P. VENKATESAN Vs. CHAIRMAN, TAMIL NADU STATE LEVEL SCRUTINY COMMITTEE- II, ADI DRAVIDAR AND TRIBAL WELFARE DEPARTMENT

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Seeking to quash the impugned order passed by the first respondent, the petitioner has preferred the present writ petitition.

(2.) The case of the petitioner is that he belongs to Konda Reddis community which is classified as a Schedule Tribe and he was issued with such certificate by the Tahsildar in the year 1976 after due verification and enquiry. Several relatives of the petitioner also possess their case certificates stating as Konga Reddis community issued by the Revenue Authorities.

(3.) The petitioner joined service as Technician in the Department of Telecom. Subsequently, the petitioner got promoted as Telecom Technical Assistant, Junior Telecom Officer (JTO), Sub Divisional Engineer and finally as Divisional Engineer and attained the age of superannuation on 31/7/2016. That being so, in the year 2008, the District Level Vigilance Committee summoned the petitioner for enquiry with respect to the genuineness of his caste certificate. Thereafter, the petitioner filed a writ petition in W.P.No.1259 of 2008, questioning the jurisdiction of the said Committee. However, the said W.P. was tagged along with a batch of writ petitions and came to be allowed by this Court vide order dtd. 21/4/2020, relegating the enquiry to the State Level Scrutiny Committee. However, till the petitioner reached superannuation in July 2016, no steps were taken by the first respondent in challenging the genuineness of the community certificate held by the petitioner.