(1.) Petitioner is the applicant in O.A. No.5345 of 2005 on the file of the Andhra Pradesh Administrative Tribunal, Hyderabad (Tribunal). He filed that OA challenging the order of the second respondent (Superintendent of Police, Guntur) dated 17.05.2005 and confirmed by the first respondent (Inspector General of Police, Guntur - appellate authority) by his order dated 01.09.2005 removing him from the job of Police Constable on the ground that he did not belong to Scheduled Tribe (ST) but was appointed in a vacancy reserved for STs on his misrepresentation. The Tribunal, after a contest, dismissed the above OA by its order dated 22.11.2006. Questioning the correctness of the said order, the petitioner has come up with this petition under Article 226. Before we state the points which are raised in this writ petition, the factual background of the matter should be noted.
(2.) The petitioner was appointed as Police Constable by the second respondent through his proceedings dated 12.08.1993 in a vacancy reserved for STs after verification of the certificates produced by him. At the time of recruitment, he produced a certificate which purports to have been given by Tahsildar, Guntur showing his caste as "Boya (Valmiki)" and in that certificate it was stated that petitioner's caste is an ST. Basing on that certificate, the petitioner declared himself to be an ST and he was given appointment accordingly.
(3.) Subsequently an anonymous petition was received against the petitioner with the allegation that he did not belong to ST. Thereupon, the second respondent issued a charge memo dated 12.03.2003 proposing to hold a disciplinary enquiry against the petitioner on the allegation that he cheated the Government by producing a false caste certificate to the effect that he was an ST candidate though he did not belong to any ST community and that constitutes grave misconduct on his part. He submitted an explanation dated 21.03.2003 to the said charge memo. Not satisfied with the explanation, the second respondent appointed an enquiry officer to enquire into the matter.