Full order W.P. No. 5178 of 2021—-The 3rd respondent shall file all documents to prove his community status before this Court so that this Court could pass appropriate orders. It is made clear that the matter will be decided on the next hearing date itself. 8. Post on 09.07.2021. (N.K.K.J.) (T.V.T.S.J.) 25.06.2021 N. KIRUBAKARAN,J. AND T.V. THAMILSELVI,J. (Order of the Court was made by N. KIRUBAKARAN,J.) The matter is heard through videoconferencing. 2. The petitioner contends that the 3rd respondent, who got elected as President of Ayyarnapalli Village Panchayat, Soolagiri Taluk, Krishnagiri District which is reserved for ST community, does not belong to ST community and he belongs to “Vakkaligar” community, which is a Backward Class community. By falsely declaring his community status as “Kuruchchan” community classified as a Scheduled Tribe in the nomination form dated 14.12.2019, the 3rd respondent got elected as President of Ayyanarpalli Panchayat, which is exclusively reserved for Scheduled Tribe.

W.P. No. 5178 of 2021

N. KIRUBAKARAN,J.

AND

T.V. THAMILSELVI,J.

(Order of the Court was made by N. KIRUBAKARAN,J.)

The matter is heard through videoconferencing.

2. The petitioner contends that the 3rd respondent, who got elected as President of Ayyarnapalli Village Panchayat, Soolagiri Taluk, Krishnagiri District which is reserved for ST community, does not belong to ST community and he belongs to “Vakkaligar” community, which is a Backward Class community. By falsely declaring his community status as “Kuruchchan” community classified as a Scheduled Tribe in the nomination form dated 14.12.2019, the 3rd respondent got elected as President of Ayyanarpalli Panchayat, which is exclusively reserved for Scheduled Tribe.

3. Coming to know about the fraud committed by the 3rd respondent, by obtaining RTI infomration, with regard to the community status of the 3rd respondent’s father from Block Educational Officer, Soolagiri on 02.12.2020, which describes the 3rd respondent’s community status as “Vakkaligar”, the petitioner made a complaint to the 1st respondent regarding false declaration made by the 3rd respondent on 04.01.2021. In this regard, the 1st respondent wrote to the 2nd respondent to conduct an enquiry and send a report on 18.01.2021. Till date, the report has not reached the 1st respondent. Therefore, the petitioner has come before this Court seeking a direction to the 2nd respondent to take action as per letter dated 18.01.2021 written by the 1st respondent on the basis of the petitioner’s representation dated 04.01.2021.

4. What has been alleged by the petitioner is a serious issue. It is not only the 3rd respondent herein, who has made a false declaration with regard to his community status, many persons, who do not belong to either Scheduled Caste or Scheduled Tribe, obtain fake certificates declaring their community status either as Scheduled Caste or Scheduled Tribe to enable them to contest in the elections to constituencies or local bodies reserved for SC or ST candidates or to seek admission in educational institutions in respect of seats meant for SC/STs or to get employment under SC/ST category violating the rights of deserving candidates belonging to SC/STcommunity. Many number of cases are coming up before this Court in which people belonging to other communities obtain false SC/ST community certificates from authorities, who also for various reasons, merrily issue such certificates, violating the constitutional rights of SC/ST people. By obtaining such false certificates, undeserving persons get unjustly enriched knocking away the rights of those belonging to SC/ST community. Therefore, the need has arisen for the State Government to nominate an officer, not below the rank of Revenue Divisional Officer, in each Disctict, who alone shall be competent to conduct an enquiry and issue not only SC/ST community certificates, but also income certificates, nativity certificates, etc. Nativity Certificates play an important role in getting medical admissions under the State Quota. There have been many allegations in the past that students selected for medical admissions obtained dual nativity certificates, not only from Tamil Nadu, but also from other States and in the process, the students from other States got benefitted by obtaining nativity certificate from Tamil Nadu resulting in the students of our State being left in the lurch without any seats. Hence, such an endeavour, if undertaken, by the State Government, would go a long way in considerably reducing the malpractices in issuance of not only community certificates (BC, MBC, SC & ST), but also income Certificates, nativity Certificates, etc.

5. In the light of the suggestion putforth by this Court supra, it is deemed appropriate to, suo motu, implead The Secretary, Government of Tamil Nadu, Revenue Department, Fort St. George, Chennai as 4th respondent to the writ petition. Mr.Muthukumar, learned Government Counsel takes notice on behalf of respondents 1, 2 and 4. Notice to the 3rd respondent returnable by 09.07.2021. Private notice including email, whatsapp, courier and speed post is also permitted. The newly impleaded 4th respondent has to respond with regard to implementation of the suggestion made by this Court, ie nominating a Revenue Divisional Officer in each district exclusively as competent authorities to issue community certificates, income certificates, nativity certificates after due enquiry.

6. The very purpose behind obtaining such false certificates regarding community status is only for getting the benefits given by the Government and on account of this, many undeserving persons are getting the benefits thereby depriving the deserving persons from enjoying the benefits to which they are entitled to. In a similar matter, this Court raised a number of queries in W.P.No.23200 of 2017 and also suggested the necessity to appoint a Nodal Officer. The said writ petition is to be clubbed along with this writ petition after getting appropriate orders from My Lord The Honourable Chief Justice.
7. The 3rd respondent shall file all documents to prove his community status before this Court so that this Court could pass appropriate orders. It is made clear that the matter will be decided on the next hearing date itself.

8. Post on 09.07.2021.
(N.K.K.J.) (T.V.T.S.J.)
25.06.2021

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