High Court slams Caste Scrutiny Committee

Coming down heavily on the Caste Scrutiny Committee at Thane, the Bombay High Court (HC) recently underscored that a validated caste certificate of a family member would stand as conclusive proof of the social status of their patriarchal relative.

The HC made the strict observation while hearing a petition filed by a Thane resident, Bharat Tayade, challenging the order of the Scrutiny Committee which invalidated his caste certificate for the second time.

Earlier in 2016, the HC had directed the Scrutiny Committee to reconsider his claim to being a Tokre Koli, a Scheduled Tribe. The court also noted then that Tayade's cousin brother Kailash Tayade was given a validity certificate by the Scrutiny Committee in Nashik district.

A division bench of Justices S B Shukre and G A Sanap said that most families in India follow the patriarchal family pattern and thus all members are to be considered in law as belonging to the same caste or tribe.

It also said that a document that stood as conclusive proof for one person would also stand as conclusive proof of social status of another person, if such other person is a paternal relative of the first person possessing the validity certificate. The norm won’t apply in exceptional cases where the validation of caste or tribe certificate is vitiated by fraud, misrepresentation of facts or suppression of facts.

In its judgment, the court also cautioned the state’s Caste Scrutiny Committees not to disobey the orders of courts and said it would take a serious action in future if any such committee is found to be breaching the

HC’s orders.

“We sound a caution to not only to the Scrutiny Committee at Thane but also to all other Scrutiny Committees against venturing to disobey orders of superior Courts and scrupulously follow the directions issued by the superior courts. We make it clear that, in future, if it comes to our notice that these directions have not been followed by any of the Scrutiny Committees, this Court shall take a serious view of the breach that may be committed by any of the Scrutiny Committees,” warned the court.

Despite a clear-cut directive from the HC, the Committee refused to consider the valid caste certificate issued to Kailash and rejected Tayade's claim of belonging to the Tokre Koli community.

The court observed that the conduct of the caste scrutiny committee at Thane resulted in "judicial indiscipline" committed by a quasi-judicial authority.

Quashing the order of the caste scrutiny committee, the HC has directed it to issue a validity certificate to Tayade within two weeks.