Dr.Sambuddha Chakrabarti, J. - (1.) THE writ petitioner claimed that he belongs to the Schedule Caste community and he obtained a Certificate to that effect in 1997. In 1992 he was appointed as a Lower Division Clerk under the District Judgeship of Malda. THE petitioner says that since he did not have his caste certificate at the time of joining the said post he could not mention the same in his application.
(2.) IN the year 2002 a gradation list was published to which the writ petitioner raised objection but the list as already published was not interfered with. Then on November 13, 2009 another gradation list was published by which 12 Lower Division clerks were promoted temporarily to the post of the Upper Division clerks. Under the said gradation list the writ petitioner was given the first vacancy as a Schedule Caste candidate with effect from 1st February 2008. The petitioner was promoted to the post of Upper Division clerk, worked for sometime and got his salary admissible to the post promoted. On November 25, 2009 the petitioner requested the learned District Judge, Malda, to pass an order so that he could get his promotion from a retrospective date which was forwarded by the Chief Judicial Magistrate, Malda, to the learned District Judge, Malda. It seems, by the said request the petitioner had invited his own trouble. By a memo, dated December 7, 2009, the learned Chief Judicial Magistrate, Malda, in view of the learned District Judge?s memo, dated December 4, 2009, directed him to submit his reply to three queries by December 11, 2009. The queries were: 1) whether his father was an employee of the general category; 2) whether the petitioner was appointed against the same category; and 3) whether he claimed himself as a Schedule Caste during the submission of papers to prepare his Service Book in the year 1992. The petitioner?s reply is Annexure P-8 to the writ petition. There he inter alia mentioned that he was not in a position to say whether his father was an employee of the general category as relevant papers and documents were not in his hand. As to the second query his answer was that it was not mentioned in his appointment letter whether he was appointed in service as a general category candidate or one belonging to the Schedule Caste category. In 1992 he had no document in his hand to show that he was a Schedule Caste candidate and as such as he could not claim himself to be so. But the most striking part of the reply was when he proceeded to write that on November 6, 1997 he was issued the Schedule Caste certificate and on that date he ?came to know? that he was a Schedule Caste.
(3.) THIS part of the reply was relay very strange. A candidate is may not have a caste certificate on a certain date in hand; but it is really surprising that only after a certificate had been issued he came to know that he belonged to the Schedule Caste community. He must have applied before that for issuing the caste certificate. He must have had his knowledge that he belongs to the Schedule Caste community, otherwise he ought to have applied. It is quite possible that since the certificate was not in his hand he could not validly claim himself as a Schedule Caste candidate. But after the certificate was issued he came to know that he belonged to the Schedule Caste community makes the whole thing a truly suspicious one. On December 17, 2009 the learned District Judge sent another memo to the writ petitioner stating inter alia that he himself had made declaration that he did not belong to the Schedule Caste community. The writ petitioner was further informed that his Schedule Caste certificate which was submitted long before his date of appointment has not been accepted by the learned District Judge, Malda at any point of time. But somehow he managed to procure the benefit of 1 : 1 policy though he was appointed as a ?C? grade General Category staff. The writ petitioner was directed to give his explanation by December 21, 2009 failing which the matter would be sent to the concerned police authorities for necessary enquiry. On December 19, 2009 the writ petitioner gave his reply which was in line with his earlier reply, dated December 11, 2009. In this letter he said that subsequent to his police verification he had applied to the competent authority for issuing a Schedule Caste certificate to which he originally belonged. He denied the allegation that he somehow managed to procure the benefit of 1: 1 policy for he was never in a position to handle the service records. Annexure- P 12 is the order impugned in this writ petition and is dated December 19, 2009. This was issued by the learned District Judge, Malda. This order was in the form of a corrigendum of the earlier order, dated November 13, 2009. This order said that it was detected after cross verification of office records that the writ petitioner did not belong to the Schedule Caste community. As such the order dated November 13, 2009 was corrected in so far as the writ petitioner?s caste was concerned. From Schedule Caste it was corrected as general category and the vacancy position was also altered. Now after correction the petitioner was placed in the third vacancy under the unreserved category with effect from May 1, 2008. This lowering of the petitioner in the vacancy from 1st (Schedule Caste) to 3rd (unreserved) has been challenged by the petitioner in this writ petition. The writ petitioner subsequently affirmed a Supplementary Affidavit wherefrom it appears that by order dated February 2, 2010 he was transferred and appointed as Forms and Stationary Clerk-cum-Miscellaneous Clerk of Civil Judge, Junior Division, 1st Court, Malda. From the documents annexed to the Supplementary Affidavit it also appears that a memo, dated March 29, 2010 was issued by the learned District Judge, Malda, wherein it was specifically written that, ?this order is passed specially for searching out malpractice made by the present two staff for placing them as members of Schedule Caste community?. ?The two staff? mentioned above are the writ petitioner and one Shri Dipak Choudhory who happens to be the cousin of the writ petitioner. In this detailed office order the learned District Judge has narrated certain facts: the writ petitioner at the time of joining claimed himself as a general category candidate and everywhere he has written that he did not belong to Schedule Caste or Schedule Tribe community. In his Service Book only a xerox copy of the Schedule Caste certificate was pasted without any attestation and acceptance by the appointing authority of the petitioner and he did not make any prayer for acceptance of that certificate to the learned District Judge at any point of time. The Service Book of his retired father was consulted which revealed that he never belonged to the Schedule Caste category, but belonged to the general category. The learned District Judge had also drawn a geneological table to prove the malpractice, practiced by the writ petitioner and his cousin. The father and the two uncles of the writ petitioner were employees of the judgeship of Malda. While narrating the service history of the writ petitioner?s father and two uncles, the learned District Judge, Malda, consulted their service records and came to the specific conclusion that the petitioner belonged to the Baisya Banik sect of the Hindu community, as his father and uncles and cousins belonged to the said community and never belonged to the Suri sect which was certified by the S.D.O. while issuing the Schedule Caste certificate. He referred to a memo of the District Magistrate wherefrom it was found that Baisya Banik caste was not recognized as belonging to Schedule Caste community in West Bengal and he further directed the writ petitioner and the other staff mentioned in the order to be treated as General category candidates and not as members of the Schedule Caste community. He directed the matter to be sent to the District Magistrate, Malda, for starting an inquiry about how and under what circumstances the Sub-divisional Officer, Malda, had issued the Schedule Caste certificate and to determine under what circumstances the writ petitioner and the other staff mentioned therein managed to procure the fictitious Schedule Caste certificate from the office of the S.D.O., Malda. By an office memo, dated June 15, 2010, the District Magistrate, Malda, gave a cryptic inquiry report wherein it was merely mentioned that the Schedule Caste certificates were issued from his end.;