Magistrate on 27th March, 1997 refusing to
issue caste certificate to the petitioner, is
impugned in the present petition. The ground
assigned to refuse the certificate is that
the petitioner has not adduced basic
documents such as the certificates regarding
the caste o his near relatives, of the period
prior to 1950. The petitioner, however,
states that he had produced those documents
before the sub-divisional magistrate but of
the later period. No reference is found in
regard to the said certificate produced by
the petitioner which shows that the
Sub-Divisional Magistrate, without
considering the said documents and not
following the guide-lines and circulars
issued by the Government in this behalf,
passed the order. In fact, under the
guide-lines and the circular the
Sub-Divisional Magistrate is not required to
carry out a detailed scrutiny at the time of
caste certificate as this is the function of
the Caste Scrutiny Committee. The
Sub-Divisional Magistrate can issue a caste
certificate if any blood relations of the
petitioner has already been issued caste
certificate. In the instant case, the
petitioner has produced such certificates of
his near relatives which show that the
petitioner belongs to Mahadeo Koli, Scheduled
Tribe. In the circumstances, the impugned
order dated 27th of March, 1997 is set aside.
The matter is now remanded back to the
Sub-Divisional Magistrate, who shall consider
the petitioner’s application for issuance of
caste certificate in the light of the
observations hereinabove."
