P VENKATESWARA PRASAD Vs. PRINCIPAL ANDHRA MEDICAL COLLEGE

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The petitioner had his provisional admission into Medical Course with his status as Konda Kapu (Scheduled Tribe) but on receipt of adverse reports in this regard and issue of show-cause notices he is assailing their jurisdiction, validity and legality thereof by issue of a writ of mandamus to declare the show-cause notices dated January 7, 1985 and January 24, 1986 as illegal, arbitrary, without jurisdiction and void with a consequential declaration that he is a member of the Scheduled Tribe (Konda Kapu) for all purposes. The facts which are not disputed even across the Bar, in fairness by Sri Duba Mohan Rao, his learned counsel, are narrated hereunder before angulating into the questions raised.

(2.) The petitioner's paternal great grand-father is PadalaJanardhana Rao. His great grand-father is Suranna. His grand-father is PadalaVeerraju. All of them are residents of Yeleswaram, a plains area in East Godavari District Padala Suranna, great grlft- father has two sons and two daughters, Bullemma, grand-father of the petitioner Padala Veerraju, Veerayammaand Padala Jaggaiah. All of them have been born at Yelleswaram. In the birth register of the village as per the evidence collected during investigation by the Director of Tribal Welfare, show that all of them are Kapus by caste. It is reflected in the material papers filed by the Government as Annexure 10, the geneology table of all the members of the family with social status arid the petitioner has not disputed the correctness thereof. Veerraju has two sons viz., Padala Jagga Rao, the father of the petitioner, the eldest one and Padala Chanti Abbai alias Abbai; Raputamma, Lakshmi, Draupathi, Eswari, Satyavathi are five daughters. In the birth register of Yelleswaram Gram Panchayat, the caste of the Petitioner's father Jagga Rao is recorded as Kapu. Petitioner's mother is also Kapu by caste. Similarly, his uncle Padala Chanti Abbai alias Abbai was also recorded as Kapu. Padala Chanti Abbai too married Nagaratnam, daughter of Ramireddy resident of Fakruddinpalem, who is a Telaga (Kapu). Similarly, the daughter of Veerraju Raputamma was married to Ananta Veerraju of Yellavaram who belongs to Kapu. Lakshmi was given in marriage to K. Dharma Raju of Lingamparthi village who is also a Kapu. Draupathi was given in marriage to D. Janaki Ramaiah of Fakruddinpalem who is also a Kapu. Eswari was given in marriage to Thoia Subbarao of Kothapalli who also belongs to Kapu. Satyavathi was given in marriage to J.P. Rambabu of Lampakaluva who is also a Kapu. In the transfer certificate at Serial No. 104/48 of Annexure-I (of ULCM High School, Peddapuram), the father of the petitioner Jagga Rao was declared as Telaga. Again, he was admitted in Pithapuram PRBHR High School. In the application for admission signed by the grand-father of the petitioner, Padala Veerraju., father of the petitioner Jagga Rao was again declared as Telaga. Padala Veerraju migrated from Yeleswaram to Yellavaram in the agency area and acquired considerable properties. He is also village munsif. Chanti Abbai, the uncle of the petitioner is also a village munsif. In the admission register bearing admission No. 174, Annexure III, the uncle of the petitioner Padala Abbai is also declared to be Kapu by caste. This entry of admission register is dated July 9, 1954. The sale transactions effected in the years 1935,1936 and 1949, under document Numbers 725, 352,921 and 905 respectively of the S ub-Registrar, Prattipadu in East Godavari District show that Padala Veerraju, the grand-father of the petitioner, declared himself to be a Kapu (Telaga) by caste. Except the family of Veerraju who migrated to Yellavaram in the agency area, rest of them continued to be Kapus by caste and declared to be so in the Birth register or some in the school certificates. Even in the SSLC Register of the petitioner's father JaggaRao, his caste is shown to be Telaga (Kapu) by caste. I reiterate that these facts are not disputed.

(3.) From the evidence placed by the petitioner before me it would appear that when the admission was sought for by the father of the petitioner as Scheduled Tribe (Konda Kapu), a dispute was raised regarding the social status. Relying upon the report of the District Collector, East Godavari, Government have dropped the proceedings holding Jagga Rao to be a Scheduled Tribe. The election of Veerraju as the president of the Panchayat Samithi was challenged when elected with his social status as Scheduled Tribe. This was also upheld by the Election Tribunal declaring that Veerraju to be Scheduled Tribe. In the enquiry report on the social status of Veerraju as Scheduled tribe, the District Collector stated that Veerraju has been staying in the agency area for along time and he acquired considerable properties and that he is a Konda Kapu. The R.D.O. and M.L.A. issued certificates that Jagga Rao is a Scheduled Tribe. This material has been pressed into service by the petitioner and vehemently relied upon by Shri Mohan Rao in support of the petitioner's contention. As stated earlier, admittedly the admission of the petitioner into the first year MBBS Course was provisional subject to clearance by the Director of Tribal Welfare of his social status as a Scheduled Tribe. Finding that his father is declared to be a "Kapu" in his SSLC Register, matter has been referred to the Director of Tribal Welfare to enquire into and submit the report. An intensive investigation was got done by the Director of Tribal Welfare and he submitted his report dated November 19, 1984. On consideration of the report, a show-cause notice dated January 7, 1985, was issued to the petitioner. The petitioner submitted his explanation dated January 16, 1985. Therein, he laid his claim on the basis of the certificate issued by the Tahsildar, Yellavaram, of himself and his father by the R.D.O. that they are Konda Kapus; by the Government dropping the proceedings regarding social status of his father and the declaration of his grand-father by the Election Tribunal to be a Scheduled Tribe. Then the matter was again referred to the Director for his comments on that material. Then the Director again got verified those certificates and submitted his report dated December 26, 1985. Copy thereof was supplied. Based thereon, and on consideration thereof, the second show-cause notice dated January 24, 1986 has been issued. These show cause notices are now the subject-matter of attack.