Case Note & Summary
The petitioner, Bhushan s/o Narayan Choukhe, was admitted to an engineering course in the respondent No. 2 College in 2013 on a seat reserved for Scheduled Tribe candidates, based on a provisional caste certificate claiming he belonged to the Mana-Scheduled Tribe category. The college forwarded his proposal to the Scheduled Tribe Caste Certificate Scrutiny Committee, Nagpur, on 22.01.2013 for verification. However, the Committee did not decide the claim for over four years. The petitioner successfully completed his engineering course in 2016, but the college and the university (Sant Gadge Baba University, Amravati) refused to release his marklist, degree certificate, and leaving certificate on the ground that he had not produced a caste validity certificate. Consequently, the petitioner filed a writ petition in October 2017 challenging the communication dated 16.08.2017 from the Principal refusing to release the documents and seeking a direction to the university to release them. The Court noted that the Committee had not taken any action since 2013, causing the petitioner to lose his job and hindering his further studies. The Court held that such inordinate delay cannot be allowed to cause harassment to claimants. It directed the university to release the petitioner's marklist, degree certificate, and other relevant documents within two weeks, without prejudice to the Committee's right to decide the caste claim. The petition was disposed of accordingly.
Headnote
A) Caste Certificate - Validity - Pending Scrutiny - Inordinate Delay - The petitioner completed his engineering course in 2016 but was denied his marklist, degree certificate, and leaving certificate because his caste claim as Mana-Scheduled Tribe was pending verification since 2013. The Scrutiny Committee had not taken any action for over four years. The Court held that the Committee cannot be allowed to cause harassment and directed the University to release the documents within two weeks, subject to the outcome of the scrutiny. (Paras 2-7) B) Right to Education - Release of Documents - Interim Relief - The Court observed that the petitioner had already lost his job and was unable to pursue further studies due to non-release of documents. It directed the University to release the marklist, degree certificate, and other documents within two weeks, without prejudice to the rights of the Scrutiny Committee to decide the caste claim. (Paras 5-7)
Issue of Consideration
Whether a student who has completed his engineering course can be denied his degree certificates and other documents solely on the ground that his caste claim is pending verification before the Scrutiny Committee, especially when the delay is attributable to the Committee.
Final Decision
The Court directed respondent No. 3 (Sant Gadge Baba University) to release the petitioner's marklist, degree certificate, and other relevant documents within two weeks, without prejudice to the rights of the Scrutiny Committee to decide the caste claim. The petition was disposed of.
Law Points
- Right to education
- caste certificate validity
- inordinate delay
- interim relief
- release of documents
