KUNALATA NAYAK Vs. STATE OF ODISHA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Mr. Mohanta, learned advocate appears on behalf of petitioner and submits, impugned is order dtd. 8/10/2021 made by the Sub-Collector in Misc. Certificate Appeal no.01 of 2019. He submits, the Tahsildar duly issued caste certificate to his client but private opposite party no.6 filed purported appeal. The Sub-Collector had no jurisdiction to enter upon and adjudicate on the allegations made against his client since, verification of caste certificate can only be done by the State Level Scrutiny Committee. He hands up order dtd. 2/11/2022 made by this Bench in WP(C) no.24104 of 2022 (Baijanti Malik vs. State of Odisha and others) to submit, the position stands settled. Text of the order is extracted and reproduced below.

(2.) Mr. Das, learned senior advocate, present in Court, submits, Odisha Scheduled Castes, Schedule Tribes and Backward Classes (Regulation of issuance and verification of Caste Certificates) Act, 2012 says under sub-sec. (2) in Sec. 1 that it shall come into force on such date the State Government may, by notification in the official gazette, appoint. Clause(d) in Sec. 2 gives meaning of competent authority as to be notified and includes all competent authorities already designated before the commencement. Sec. 17 says, save as otherwise provided, provisions of the Act shall be in addition to provisions of any other law for the time being in force. He submits further, in spite of probing search, he could not find any notification of appointed date, from when the Act came into operation. He submits still further, ratio decidendi in Namita Sagaria (supra) is that only the State Level Scrutiny Committee could go into verification of caste certificates and, inter alia, declare it to be fake.

(3.) Mr. Behera, learned advocate appears on behalf of private opposite party no.6 and draws attention to order dtd. 24/11/2020 made by same co-ordinate Bench in WP(C) no.27451 of 2020 (his client's case) and submits, State had represented to Court that the Collector and District Magistrate, Nayagarh is the appellate authority to be approached. His client withdrew the writ petition and went to the Sub-Collector, who duly made impugned order.