The High Court · 2025

Sri NaraYana SambaraPu' (Retired Manager, Finance' BHEL' 226, BHEL MIG(old), Ramachandrapuram' Flyderabad - 5O2 O32' Cetl No. 88970057t2 Email: narayanasambarapu@gmail com' And L. Thc State o[ Telangana' represented by its ChieI Secreury, Secrclariat, HYdcrabad'

2. TrIe State of Telangana' represented bY its PrinciPal Secrctary' School trducation DePartment' Secretariat, HYdcrabad'

3. The Director of School Education' Saifabad, FlYderabad - 500 OO4' ...Petitioner . ..ResPondents Petition under Article 226 ot the constitution of lndia praying that in the circumstances stated in the affidavit filed therewith, the High Court may be pleased to issue a Writ, Direction or an Order more articulad one in the us to call for records and remarks from the Respondents herein rr the schcol educatio n rccords of the students were free of "Caste" ion, at the time of aclmission, no action has been taken by the Mandam see that informat \ e students orltiesconcerned..Itisfurtherstatedbytheappiicantthattht: berng asked inf<;rrnation relating to their castes at the trme of admission to the school ar:.ci this information subsequently forms part of the record the student's Transfer Certihcate (T.C) at the time of leaving the school' the T.C of the student is brandeci with a "caste" permanentllr , whether srudent likes or not that whenever the T.C is presented before any uthority or entity for the purpose ofjob or any other business and his caste disadvantage of that Person, the ris made public, sometimes to the utter d there is no use to the trducation individual's privacy is; being breached an Department by the :'nformation obtained regarding caste' In view of the Same,Someareevendemanding,,NoCasteCertiltcate.''II.castecr:rtificateis required by the people they can get it from the designatecl authority and the Transfer Certihcate :Ls not a valid caste certihcate and there is no legal requirement to have caste information in thc School trducation Records' In addition to the issue of privacy, the individual's dignity and othLer matters which affect that person adversely at times have been explained in detail in the representation tc' the Department lt is feit that this measure of school education records being trec of caste information will help in les;sening the rigorousness of the oaste system by looscning the shackles to some extent' Any slackening of caste system, ho-wever small it may be is a welcome development. The cas[e system divides people into lvatcrtight compartment .ealied ,,caste" and it ,arranges the castes into a system of hierarctry, labeliing some castes as upper and some as lou'er, thus making it impossible for people to live a life of equality for alt; that those who belong to lower caste' 'were freqrrenfly subjected to discriminatory treatment and made to undergo visible and invisible mental harassment; a slow awakening is taking place among people who 'lo not want to be identified with castes' as it put the majority of the population at a lor'ver level' Hence' this Hon'ble Court may be pleased to issue necessary directions to the Respondents herein not to record any caste information of the students at the time of adrrrission in to theSchoolsandnot-torecordtheinformationinTransl.erCertiiicates(TCs) to avoid caste discrimination and to pass such other orrler or orders as this Hon'ble Court may cleem ht and proper in the circumstances of the case' Counsel for the petitiongr : !eft9! By Sri Narayana Sambarapu coulser for the Respondents : Rr irono.rmHar.i xHAN, ADDL.ADV GENERAL The Court made the following: OnDE-R THE HON'BLE THE ACTING CHIEF JUSTICE SUJOY PAUL AND THE HON'BLE SMT. JUSTICE RENUKA YARA TAKEN UP WRIT PETITIOI{ lPEl No.9 of 2O23 ORDER: (Per the Hon'ble the Acting Chief Justice Sujog Paul) This letter petition is taken-up. Sri Mohd.lmran Khan, learned Additional Advocate General for the State of Telangana, submits that in the letter petition, it is prayed that in the school leavrng certificate, there should be a column to enable the candidate to mention 'no caste or religion'. It is submitted that the point involved in the present petition is no more res integra and has been considered recently in WP (PlL) No.66 of 2017, dated 21.1O.2O24.

2. In the said order, the Co-ordinate Bench of this Court has considered the prescribed Transfer Certihcate and the prescribed Form i.e., ANNEXURE I. In para No.23 of the order, it is recorded as under: "From perusal of paragraph 12 of the counter affidar.it filed on behalf of the respondent No.S, it is evident that it is the stand of the School Education Department that the petitioners are at liberty to mention no caste and no religion in an appropriate column and for not mentioning the detaits of religion and caste, admission will not be denied to a child. In view of the stand taken by tJle School Education Department, it is not necessary for us to issue any direction in this public interest litigation." 2

3. On the strength of this para, learned Additional Advocate General submits that it is open to the parents of the candidates not to mention the caste and religion and no directions are required to be issued.

4. In r.iew of the aJoresaid order of the Co-ordinate Bench and the submission of learned Additional Advocate (ieneral. we find no reason to issu,: anv direction in the present petil-ion.

5. Accordrnqh'. the Writ petition is disposed of. No costs. Intcrlocuton' arpplications, if any pending, shall also stand closed. To, sD/-T. JAYASREE ,/ STANT REGISTRAR \\\- vSEcTIoN oFFICER 1. Sri. Narayana.Sambarapu, (Retired .M"lqgqr, Finance, BHEL, ,226, BHEL MIG 2' rwp ccs to ADDTTONAL-ADVOCATE GENERAL, High court for the state of (Old), Ramachandrapuiam, Hyderabad_Sd2 Oei.-' //TRUE COPY// ASSI Telangana at Hyderabad. [OUT]

3. Two CD Copies. BSK BS HIGH COURT DATED:0510212025 ORDER TUWP(PIL).No.9 ot 2023 DISPOSING OF THE TAKEN UP wRtT PETtflON (PtL) WITHOUT COSTS tt* iJ :i'" l1 /^ \', r '\. oR 1l{ E st4 1l 'li,R 2W D .A \:' !__i: ' .(' /t 7 /4,