1 - Virendra Turkane S/o Late Davanlal Turkane Aged About 52 Years Caste- Chamar v. 1 - State Of Chhattisgarh Through Its Secretary, Department Of Tribal Welfare, Mahanadi Bhawan
Case Details
1 2025:CGHC:22576 NAFR HIGH COURT OF CHHATTISGARH AT BILASPUR WPC No. 2558 of 2025 1 - Virendra Turkane S/o Late Davanlal Turkane Aged About 52 Years Caste- Chamar, R/o Kamla College Road, Housing Board Colony, Rajnandgaon, District- Rajnandgaon, Chhattisgarh. ... Petitioner(s) versus 1 - State Of Chhattisgarh Through Its Secretary, Department Of Tribal Welfare, Mahanadi Bhawan, Nawa Raipur, Chhattisgarh. 2 - The Sub Divisional Officer (Revenue) Rajnandgaon, District- Rajnandgaon, Chhattisgarh. ... Respondent(s) For Petitioner(s)
Legal Reasoning
: Mr. Love Kumar Ramteke, Advocate For Respondent(s) : Ms. Poorva Tiwari, Advocate Hon’ble Shri Justice Arvind Kumar Verma, Judge Order on Board 09/06/2025 1. The present petition is heard finally with the consent of the parties. 2. The present petition is filed by the petitioner praying for the following relief(s): 2 “10.1 That, this Hon’ble Court may kindly be pleased to call the entire records from the respondents. 10.2 That, this Hon’ble Court may kindly issue a writ in the nature of Mandamus directing the respondent authority to issue Permanent Social Status Certificate (Caste Certificate) to the petitioner, prescribed period granted under the Chhattisgarh Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and Other Backward Classes (Regulation of Social Status Certification) Rules, 2013 and on prescribed period granted under the C.G. Lok Sewa Guarantee Act, 2011.” 3. Brief facts of the case is that the petitioner belongs to Schedule Caste “Chamar” and petitioner’s children wants to get the benefit of caste in the Chhattisgarh. The petitioner preferred online application no. 0704012412002875 & 0704012412002877 before competent caste certificate issuing authority S.D.O. (Revenue) Rajnandgaon, District- Rajnandgaon on 11.06.2024. The petitioner also filed all the relevant documents, application, affidavit with Inability Memo. 4. Learned counsel for the petitioner contended that the petitioner’s father was working at Revenue Department in District- Rajnandgaon, State of Madhya Pradesh. His father died while in service on 24.04.2000 and the petitioner was given the compassionate appointment vide order dated 03.08.2006. In the service book of the petitioner, the caste of the petitioner has been clearly mentioned as “Chamar”. 5. Learned counsel for the State contended that the petitioner has never 3 moved any application before the competent authority under the Chhattisgarh Schedule Castes, Schedule Tribes and Other Backward Classes (Regulation of Social Status Certification) Act, 2013 (for short 'the Act, 2013) for issuance of caste status certificate, therefore, the writ petition is not maintainable. 6. I have heard learned counsel for the respective parties and perused the record with utmost circumspection. 7. Section 5 of The Chhattisgarh Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and Other Backward Classes (Regulation of Social Status Certification) Rules, 2013 provides as under: 5. Preliminary Inquiry of the Application, Receipt and Return Memo. “(1) After registering application, the Competent Authority shall make a preliminary inquiry summarily, to ascertain whether the application is complete or not and whether document required under Sub-Rule (3) of Rule 3 are annexed or not. In case, the Competent Authority finds that the required document is annexed with the application, he shall, make available to the Applicant receipt prescribed in FORM-3A and in case required documents are not annexed shall give to the Applicant a Return Memo in FORM-3B within 7 days of the receipt of application. (2) Counterfoil of the Receipt or Return Memo, as the case may be, shall be kept in the office of Competent Authority.” 8. Section 6 of The Chhattisgarh Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and Other Backward Classes (Regulation of Social Status Certification) Rules, 2013 provides as under: “Inability Memo.-(1) An applicant belonging to Scheduled Castes or Scheduled Tribes, who has applied for obtaining 4 Certificate, inspite of adequate efforts could not get the required document under sub-rule(3) of Rule 3, may give an affidavit about his inability to submit such document in prescribed FORM-3C, printed on the back of Return Memo. (2) On receipt of Inability Memo, the Competent Authority, shall not demand for the required document or documents under sub-rule (3) of Rule 3 and shall proceed to inquire the claim of the applicant under Rule 8: Provided that the applicant shall present himself during such inquiry before the Competent Authority or before the inquiry officer indicated by him and shall give all necessary assistance to ensure the presence of related persons, so as to prove his claim of social status.” 9. Section 9 of The Chhattisgarh Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and Other Backward Classes (Regulation of Social Status Certification) Rules, 2013 provides as under: “Social Status Certificate.- The Competent Authority after receiving application under sub-rule(1) of Rule 3 and conducting an inquiry under Rule 8 and in case where himself is not an inquiry officer, after satisfying himself with the annexed documents and Report of the Inquiry Officer, within one month from the date of receipt of application, shall issue the certificate in FORM-4A(1) to the Applicant of Scheduled Castes, in FORM-4A(2) to the Applicant of Scheduled Tribes and in FORM-4A(3) to the applicant of Other Backward Classes.” 10. The petitioner belongs to Schedule Caste “Chamar” and his children wants to get the benefit of caste in the State of C.G.. Therefore, they have applied online for issuance of caste certificate. The online application no. ae 0704012412002875 & 5 0704012412002877 before the competent caste certificate issuing authority SDO (Revenue) Rajnandgaon, District- Rajnandgaon on 11.06.2024. The petitioner also filed the relevant document application, affidavit with Inability Memo. The petitioner has repeatedly submitted documents in Form 3C, transaction description dated 07.10.2024 and 12.03.2025 is annexed in the petition as Annexure P/1. The applications submitted by the petitioner is still pending before the competent authority. 11. Considering the fact that the application of the petitioner is still pending before the competent authority, the writ petition is
Decision
allowed and disposed of with a direction to the respondent no. 2 to conclude the due enquiry within 60 days from the date of receipt of copy of this order and after the enquiry is completed, pass a reasoned order at the earliest, preferably within 30 days from the date of completion of enquiry. 12. It is made clear that this Court has not made any opinion one way or the other about the petitioner's caste status, which shall be addressed by the SDO(R), Rajnandgaon while allowing or refusing the application by a reasoned order. 13. Accordingly, the present writ petition is allowed. SD/- (Arvind Kumar Verma) JUDGE Madhurima 6