Ajoy Nat hRay,C.J. and Ashok Bhushan, J. - (1.) -This is a writ petition directed against a determination given by the Collector on the 30th of June, 2005, determining the caste of the respondent No. 5 as Majhwar.
(2.) THE facts giving rise to this writ petition are to be noted briefly. THE respondent No. 5 was issued Scheduled Caste certificate of Majhwar, dated 30.5.1993 issued by Tahsildar, which is one of the castes listed as Scheduled Caste in the Constitution (Scheduled Caste) Order, 1950 (as applicable for Uttar Pradesh). THE said certificate of Scheduled Caste was subsequently cancelled by an order dated 15th May, 1996, passed by the Additional District Magistrate pursuant to some inquiry to the effect that respondent No. 5 does not belong to Majhwar caste. THE order dated 15.5.1996 was challenged by respondent No. 5 by Writ Petition No. 19067 of 1996. THE said writ petition was allowed by order of this Court dated 2.11.2004 holding that the order dated 15.5.1996 was passed without giving an opportunity to the petitioner, hence the order is liable to be set-aside and the matter needs to be reconsidered. In the said writ petition, the present petitioner, Lal Mani Prasad, was also heard and this Court while disposing of the writ petition permitted filing of objection by the present petitioner before the Collector. THE petitioner as well as the respondent No. 5 filed their objections and the Collector after hearing the parties passed the impugned order dated 30.6.2005, which is challenged in this writ petition. The writ petitioner and the respondent are both sitting M.Ps. The respondent is filling a Scheduled Caste constituency seat and the petitioner is also filling a reserved category seat. There is a long history of political rivalry between the petitioner and the respondent. The Division Bench hearing this writ petition noticed the submission of the petitioner that the petitioner having contested the earlier writ petition and he having also opposed the matter before the Collector, he is a person aggrieved to challenge the order dated 30.6.2005. The Division Bench also noticed that in this writ petition issue of public importance and public interest has arisen as to whether the Godia is synonym of Majhwar. The Division Bench thought it appropriate that since the writ petition involves matter of public importance and public interest as well as the questions which could be dealt with by a Bench having jurisdiction to hear miscellaneous cases and since both the questions are interlinked the petition be heard by a Division Bench having jurisdiction of public interest litigation as well as miscellaneous jurisdiction. In view of the order of the Division Bench dated 12.9.2006 the writ petition has been placed before this Bench and is disposed of as such.
(3.) THE basic case of the petitioner is that the respondent is a Godia and therefore he is of different caste and cannot be of the caste Majhwar. The respondent has had certificates issued in his favour declaring him to be a Majhwar and there is one such certificate from the Tahsildar in 1971 and another from the Tahsildar dated 20.10.1993, which, however was directed to be cancelled vide order dated 15.5.1995, passed by Additional District Magistrate, against which order respondent filed a writ petition which was allowed by this Court and the matter was remitted to the Collector for reconsideration. The present determination of the Collector has been made pursuant to above-mentioned order passed by the Division Bench in the writ petition on the 2nd of November, 2004, whereby the Collector was required to determine the caste status of the respondent.;