RAJESH SHANKAR, J. - (1.) The present writ petition has been filed for issuance of direction upon the respondent no. 3 to carry out the verification of caste certificate of Neela Nag (respondent no. 8) in terms with the notification issued by the Secretary, Department of Personnel, Administrative Reforms and Rajbhasa, Government of Jharkhand dated 08.07.2004. It has been further prayed for quashing the caste certificate of the respondent no. 8 being CST/0152 dated 08.03.2013 issued by the Block Development Office as also the caste certificate bearing no. 112 dated 04.02.2010 issued by the Sub-Divisional Officer, Sadar, Chaibasa and all other caste certificates issued in pursuance thereof.
(2.) The factual background of the case as stated by the petitioner in the writ petition is that during the last Municipal Election, the respondent no. 8 chose to contest for the post of Chairman, Chaibasa Municipal Corporation and during that time, an objection was raised by the Deputy Commissioner-cum-Returning Officer, West Singhbhum Nagar Parishad, regarding the caste status of the respondent no. 8 alleging that she belongs to "Shandil" caste which is not in the list of Scheduled Tribe, however, the same was not acted upon. Thereafter, the petitioner filed an application under Right to Information Act, 2005 before the Block Development Officer, Sadar, Chaibasa, whereupon he was informed that the caste certificate of the respondent no. 8 was issued on the basis of lease papers and the enquiry report of the Karmchari. Since, no action was taken by the concerned authorities, the petitioner made a complaint dated 15.09.2015 before the Caste Scrutiny Committee, Ranchi, Jharkhand regarding verification of caste certificate of the respondent no. 8.
(3.) The learned counsel for the petitioner puts reliance on the judgment of the Hon'ble Supreme Court in the case of "Madhuri Patil v. Additional Commissioner, Tribal Development" reported in, (1994) 6 SCC 241 and submits that the caste certificate has been issued to the respondent no. 8 without following the guidelines enumerated in the said judgment. It is further submitted that the caste certificate is issued from the place where a person originally belongs or from where a person purchases the property. It is further submitted that a complaint petition was also filed by the respondent no. 8 before the Chief judicial Magistrate, Chaibasa vide Complaint Case No. 02 of 2016, wherein she admitted that her caste was 'Shandil' by birth which is a sub-caste of 'Tamaria' and later on after marriage, she adopted her husband's surname 'Nag' and the caste certificate of 'Munda' i.e., Scheduled Tribe has been issued to her on the basis of the family property of her father-in-law namely, Sukhdeo Nag. It is also submitted that the Caste Scrutiny Committee is also sitting tight over the matter and as such, having no other recourse the present writ petition has been filed.;