STATE OF TRIPURA Vs. STATE LEVEL SCRUTINY COMMITTEE

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This petition is filed by the State of Tripura through the Director, Welfare of Scheduled Caste Department, Government of Tripura. The prayers made in the petition are for conducting a fresh inquiry into the status of the respondent No.2, Sri Uttam Kumar Das being a person belonging to the Scheduled Caste. The petitioner has also prayed that the authorities may be allowed to cancel the Scheduled Caste certificate of the said respondent No.2 after setting aside a verification report dated 06.01.2007 and an order dated 05.01.2013. The said report dated 06.01.2007 is one submitted by the Deputy Superintendent of Police (Vigilance) as an Inquiring Officer, Special Vigilance Cell in which after conducting detailed inquiry into the caste status of the respondent No.2 it was concluded that Sri Probodh Rn. Das actually belonged to Mahishya Das community which is recognized as a Scheduled Caste in the State of Tripura. Accordingly, it was concluded that the Scheduled Caste certificate issued in favour of the said respondent No.2 dated 27.05.1986 was genuine. The order dated 05.01.2013 was one passed by the State Level Scrutiny Committee constituted in terms of Rule 7A of Tripura Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes Reservation Rules, 1992 in consonance with a decision of the Supreme Court in case of Kumari Madhuri Patil and another v. Addl. Commissioner, Tribal Development and others reported in (1994) 6 SCC 241. By the said order the committee examined the various reports and documents on record and came to the conclusion that respondent No.2 did belong to Scheduled Caste and the allegation of the caste certificate being false is wrong. The inquiry into the caste status was, therefore, dropped.

(2.) Strangely, the Government of Tripura in the present petition has virtually challenged the said report dated 06.01.2007 of the Vigilance Cell and the order dated 05.01.2013 passed by the State Level Scrutiny Committee.

(3.) This petition is a sequel to a writ petition being WP(C) No.1396 of 2019 filed by the respondent No.2 herein. In the said petition, brief facts were that the said petitioner was issued a certificate belonging to Scheduled Caste on which basis he had secured Government job. He retired on 22.01.2020. As noted, the State Level Scrutiny Committee after inquiries under its order dated 05.01.2013 confirmed that the said petitioner did belong to Mahishya Das community which is a Scheduled Caste and the allegations against him were false. Once again, the inquiry was made with respect to the caste status of the said petitioner. Sub-Divisional Magistrate, Sadar, West Tripura had made a report dated 01.06.2019 to the District Magistrate and Collector, West Tripura in which also it was concluded that the said petitioner did belong to the Scheduled Caste. Thereafter, Sub- Divisional Magistrate, West Tripura had issued a show-cause notice dated 04.11.2019 to the petitioner therein calling upon him to show-cause why it may not be held that he does not belong to the Scheduled Caste. This was on the basis that in the inquiry report dated 19.10.2019 submitted by the Sub- Divisional Magistrate, Jirania it was found that the said petitioner did not belong to the Scheduled Caste. Thereafter, Sub-Divisional Magistrate, West Tripura passed an order dated 26.11.2019 holding that the petitioner did not belong to the Scheduled Caste. Consequently, he cancelled the Scheduled Caste certificate of the petitioner dated 27.05.1986. This order dated 26.11.2019 was challenged in the said petition. The petition was allowed by the judgment dated 19.02.2020 in which after referring to the judgment of the Supreme Court in case of Kumari Madhuri Patil (Supra) following observations were made: