The Hitavada

 

State Bureau Bilaspur/Raipur, Nov 22 The Chhattisgarh High Court has quashed the decision of the High-Level Caste Scrutiny Committee regarding the cancellation of a caste certificate, citing procedural lapses and non-compliance with statutory norms. Justice B D Guru, presiding over the single bench, directed the committee to re-verify the petitioner’s caste certificate within six months, adhering to Supreme Court directives and provisions of the Chhattisgarh Scheduled

 

 

Tribes Caste Certificate (Verification) Act, 2013, and related rules. The petitioner, Lakshmi Narayan Mahto, was issued a caste certificate in 1982 by the Divisional Organiser, Raipur, declaring him as belonging to the Dhangar (ST) community. Mahto, who joined the Postal

 

Department as a postal assistant in 1983 and was later promoted to inspector, faced allegations of securing the caste certificate fraudulently. It was alleged that Mahto misrepresented his caste as Dhangar (Scheduled Tribe) instead of Gadaria (Other Backward Class). On this basis, his certificate was annulled by the High-Level Scrutiny Committee on January 9, 2015. According to court documents, the allegations surfaced following complaints by certain individuals, leading to a departmental inquiry. Subsequently, Mahto’s certificate was scrutinised by the Collector’s Office, which verified