The Nagpur Bench of the Bombay High Court has ruled that Central Government employees availing reservation benefits in Maharashtra must obtain caste validity certificates under the State law.
Dismissing a batch of petitions, the court upheld the constitutional validity of Section 6(1) and 6(3) of the Maharashtra Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, Denotified Tribes (Vimukta Jatis), Nomadic Tribes, Other Backward Classes and Special Backward Category (Regulation of Issuance and Verification of) Caste Certificate Act, 2000, along with Rule 9 of the 2003 Rules.
The petitions were filed by Anand Shankarrao Kolhatkar and others, all Central Government employees, some retired and others still in service, who were appointed against Scheduled Tribe reserved posts on the strength of caste certificates identifying them as Halba ST. Most of these appointments were made before 1995, and the petitioners argued that their appointment orders never required submission of validity certificates. Years later, they were directed to apply online to the State Scrutiny Committee for verification. When they failed to comply, disciplinary proceedings were initiated under Central Civil Services (Classification, Control and Appeal) Rules, 1965, prompting the legal challenge.
