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The Bombay High Court on Friday, the 22^nd of July, in the year 2022. recently passed a judgement in which it said that for a compassionate appointee it is necessary for them to provide a caste/ tribe validity certificate. This judgment was decided in the case of Om s/o Bhagwanrao Anjanwad vs. The State of Maharashtra & Anr.( Writ Petition No. 6750 Of 2022) and this verdict was passed by The Honourable Mr. Chief Justice Dipankar Datta, The Honourable Mr. Justice R. V. Ghuge and The Honourable Ms. Justice V. V. Kankanwadi.

FACTS OF THE CASE:

In this case, the Division Bench passed an order to decide the case with a larger bench of three judges and The Honourable Chief Justice was pleased to constitute this larger bench. This case was dealing with multiple petitions dealing around the same issue.

The issue arising for consideration of the Larger Bench has been formulated as: –

“Whether, a compassionate appointee, is not required to submit a caste/tribe validity certificate when the parent had secured employment, on the basis of a caste/tribe certificate, on a post which was specifically reserved for a backward category and who did not submit a validity certificate until his/her demise while in service?”

In this petition, the petitioner’s father died while in service on 03.11.2013. He was employed as a Junior Assistant. His appointment was on the said post reserved for the Scheduled Tribe category and his entry in service was purely on account of his claim of belonging to the Munnervarlu-Scheduled Tribe and he produced his tribe certificate as primary evidence to support his claim. His service book, undisputedly, contained such entry.

When the petitioner, Om Bhagwanrao Anjanwad was issued the appointment order dated 29.11.2019, it was specifically mentioned therein that he is appointed on compassionate ground in view of the demise of his father and the said post of Assistant Engineer (Class-III) was reserved for the Scheduled Tribe category. It was also specifically ordered that he would submit his tribe validity certificate within six months from the date of his joining. His proposal for validation would be forwarded as soon as he joined employment. If he failed to submit the tribe validity certificate, he would be relieved from employment by efflux of time.

JUDGEMENT:

The court in its judgement said adequate protection has been carved out in the judgment for all compassionate appointees standing on the same footing as the petitioners and it is, therefore, just and proper that as directed the petitioners should produce the validity certificates failing which consequences would follow as per law.

The court also said if it accepts the claims of the petitioners and holds that they need not produce validity certificates, on the face of their admission, because their respective fathers were appointed on reserved posts, this would amount to approval of the Court of the failure/omission/neglect of the deceased employees to discharge their statutory obligation of producing the validity certificates though they held posts which undoubtedly were not meant for them.

Hence, for a compassionate appointee it is necessary for them to provide a caste/ tribe validity certificate, without which their jobs will be denied to them.

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 JUDGEMENT REVIEWED BY TANAV ZACHARIAH.

Click here to view the Judgement