Bombay High Court: In the present case, the petitioner prayed to issue writ of mandamus/guidelines in favor of the petitioner and grant her caste certificate based on her mother’s caste. The Division Bench of Ravindra V. Ghuge* and Ashwin D. Bhobe, JJ., opined that the facts were being distorted by the petitioner for self-serving purposes and an attempt was made by her to misrepresent, thus, the Court dismissed the petition being devoid of any merits. Further, the Court directed the State Government to constitute a proper committee which was assisted with data/information, and to consider, whether a clause in exceptional circumstances, could be entered in the “Aaple Sarkar” portal to enable an applicant to tender the details of the mother’s social status.
Background
The petitioner was a 30-year-old woman, whose father belonged to the Jain community falling in the open category and her mother claimed to be belonging to Shimpi Community falling in the OBC category. The petitioner applied to seek a caste certificate based on her mother’s caste, but the said application was rejected by the authorities.
The petitioner tried to upload an online application on the Web portal of the State Government, known as “Aaple Sarkar”, however, she could not complete the application since she prayed for a caste certificate based on her mother’s caste. The grievance was that the Web Portal “Aaple Sarkar” accepted only the details of the father. Therefore, it was prayed that a direction be issued not only to grant a caste certificate to the petitioner based on her mother’s caste, but the Government should also be directed to modify “Aaple Sarkar” Web Portal and give a choice to the candidates for tendering details of the caste/social status even by relying upon the mother’s status.
Analysis, Law, and Decision
The Court stated that the Supreme Court in many judgments had cautioned that such certificate could be granted after proper scrutiny and due verification of the records. The Court opined that while dealing with such matters, it must be conscious of the fact regarding the purpose and object of seeking such a caste certificate based on the mother’s social status, since the mother belonged to the reserved category.
The Court relied on Rameshbhai Dabhai Naika v. State of Gujarat, (2012) 3 SCC 400, wherein the Supreme Court concluded that if there were sufficient circumstances indicating that the child was completely away from the father and was neither influenced nor nurtured by him and, constantly lived with the mother, who was the only person who had brought her up, she could claim the certificate on the basis of her mother’s caste/tribe, if the mother belonged to a backward community.
The Court, after analyzing her pleadings and averments, opined that there was a motivated attempt made by the petitioner to draw the benefit of reservation, despite having been brought up by her father who belonged to an upper caste. The Court stated that nowhere in the petition was it stated that the petitioner’s father had separated from her mother long ago or that her mother was a destitute or that it was the mother who singularly raised the child, and it was she who influenced and nurtured her. The Court also stated that neither the petitioner stated that her mother was living separately along with her parents and the Petitioner was in her custody or that there are any proceedings pertaining to any marital discord between the couple or that the father had turned his back on the family and had left the company of the wife and the daughter and had virtually deserted them.
The Court noted that the petitioner’s father was an officer in the Bank of Maharashtra and the petitioner was staying with him along with her mother. Further, the petitioner’s mother had not spent money on her education as she was unemployed and thus, had no source of income.
The Court opined that the presumption that the child had the caste of the father, could not be rebutted and such presumption might be stronger in the case where the marriage is inter-caste. But, by no means could such presumption be conclusive or irrebuttable and it was open to the child of such marriage to establish that he/she was brought up only by the mother who belonged to the scheduled caste or the scheduled tribe.
The Court noted that the petitioner had been appearing for several competitive exams based on her father’s social status of being a Jain falling in the open category and having failed in securing a job in any of the competitive exams, the mother applied for a Shimpi Caste Certificate for the first time on 04-04-2022. Thus, after receiving it on 26-04-2022, the petitioner applied in July 2022. The Court opined that after leading a life in an upper caste father’s house, having had taken education in reputed schools and colleges, the petitioner had an advantageous start in life and now she desired to take advantage of her mother’s reservation.
The Court opined that the facts were being distorted by the petitioner for self-serving purposes and an attempt was made by her to misrepresent. But the Court decided to give a ‘quietus’ to the said issue and dismissed the petition being devoid of any merits.
The Court, in relation to the prayer made by the petitioner, directed the State Government to consider the said aspect and since it involved a decision to be taken by the Government, it would be appropriate for the Government to constitute a proper committee which was assisted with data/information, to consider, whether a clause in exceptional circumstances, could be entered in the “Aaple Sarkar” portal to enable an applicant to tender the details of the mother’s social status.
[Swanubhuti Jeevraj Jain v. State of Maharashtra, Writ Petition No. 9195 of 2024, decided on 10-02-2025]
*Judgment authored by: Justice Ravindra V. Ghuge
Advocates who appeared in this case:
For the Petitioner: Aditya Pratap, a/w. Abha Singh i/b. Aditya Pratap Law Offices, for the Petitioner;
For the Respondent: V.M. Mali, AGP.
