MANOJ CHOWDHURY Vs. DISTRICT JUDGE MALDA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THE writ petitioner claimed that he belongs to the Schedule Caste community and he obtained a Certificate to that effect in 1997. In 1992 he was appointed as a Lower Division Clerk under the District Judgeship of Malda. THE petitioner says that since he did not have his caste certificate at the time of joining the said post he could not mention the same in his application.

(2.) IN the year 2002 a gradation list was published to which the writ petitioner raised objection but the list as already published was not interfered with. Then on November 13, 2009 another gradation list was published by which 12 Lower Division clerks were promoted temporarily to the post of the Upper Division clerks. Under the said gradation list the writ petitioner was given the first vacancy as a Schedule Caste candidate with effect from 1st February 2008. The petitioner was promoted to the post of Upper Division clerk, worked for sometime and got his salary admissible to the post promoted. On November 25, 2009 the petitioner requested the learned District Judge, Malda, to pass an order so that he could get his promotion from a retrospective date which was forwarded by the Chief Judicial Magistrate, Malda, to the learned District Judge, Malda.

(3.) THIS part of the reply was relay very strange. A candidate is may not have a caste certificate on a certain date in hand; but it is really surprising that only after a certificate had been issued he came to know that he belonged to the Schedule Caste community. He must have applied before that for issuing the caste certificate. He must have had his knowledge that he belongs to the Schedule Caste community, otherwise he ought to have applied. It is quite possible that since the certificate was not in his hand he could not validly claim himself as a Schedule Caste candidate. But after the certificate was issued he came to know that he belonged to the Schedule Caste community makes the whole thing a truly suspicious one. On December 17, 2009 the learned District Judge sent another memo to the writ petitioner stating inter alia that he himself had made declaration that he did not belong to the Schedule Caste community. The writ petitioner was further informed that his Schedule Caste certificate which was submitted long before his date of appointment has not been accepted by the learned District Judge, Malda at any point of time. But somehow he managed to procure the benefit of 1 : 1 policy though he was appointed as a ?C? grade General Category staff. The writ petitioner was directed to give his explanation by December 21, 2009 failing which the matter would be sent to the concerned police authorities for necessary enquiry. On December 19, 2009 the writ petitioner gave his reply which was in line with his earlier reply, dated December 11, 2009. In this letter he said that subsequent to his police verification he had applied to the competent authority for issuing a Schedule Caste certificate to which he originally belonged. He denied the allegation that he somehow managed to procure the benefit of 1: 1 policy for he was never in a position to handle the service records.