Madras HC warns courts against ordering officials to issue community certificates

CHENNAI: The Madras High Court directed all courts to not order authorities to issue community certificates, especially Scheduled Tribes/ Scheduled Caste, to the litigants based on their relative's or parents' certificate without furnishing relevant documents, as it will result in the miscarriage of justice.

The high court cannot conduct a roving enquiry into the genuineness of the caste of a person and therefore issuing any direction to issue the community certificate as it is beyond the realm of the powers of judicial review, held a division bench of Justices SM Subramaniam and K Rajasekar.

"The courts are expected to exercise restraint in issuing directions to issue community certificates to a person, and it is to be granted only by conducting the enquiry with reference to the documents and the evidence available on record", wrote the bench.

On account of huge unemployment and people changing their residences to avail of the benefits of reservation and the community certificates, nativity certificates are issued to ineligible candidates affecting the rights of the eligible candidates to avail the benefits of reservation in public employment, read the order.

The petitioner, A Manikandan, claimed his family were a native of Puducherry prior to the cut-off date on March 5, 1964, for issuance of a caste certificate under the Constitution (Puducherry) Scheduled Caste Order, 1964, and sought to direct the Union Territory to grant him Hindu Adi Dravidar (Scheduled Caste) certificate.

When the petitioner made the representation before Karaikal tahsildar, it was refused as he and his family migrated from Tamil Nadu and did not possess any evidence to prove their residential status in Puducherry before the cut-off date.

The appellate authority, the deputy collector (revenue), also confirmed the rejection of the community certificate to the petitioner as he failed to submit the proof of residence before the cut-off date.