Relief for Navneet Rana... SC restores her scheduled caste certificate

Delhi Bureau

SITTING Amravati MP Navneet Rana, who was recently inducted in BJP and announced as their official candidate from the reserved constituency for scheduled castes in Amravati region of Maharashtra, got a last minute relief as the Supreme Court restored her scheduled caste certificate in its verdict in New Delhi on Thursday. Pronouncing the order on the last day of nomination for the seat, the apex court set aside the Bombay High Court verdict in 2021 on a plea seeking cancellation of her caste certificate dated 13th August 2013, issued by a deputy collector in Mumbai stating she belonged to Mochi caste. An apex court bench comprising justices J K Maheshwari and Sanjay Karol upheld the validity of the caste certificate issued to Rana, saying in the instant case, the of Rana’s caste certificate. Adsul had contended that Rana obtained the certificate using forged and fabricated documents that were acquired using the influence of her husband Ravi Rana, an MLA.

Both ‘Chamar’ and ‘Mochi’ castes figure in chapter 2 of “The Constitution (Scheduled Castes) order, 1950. The ‘Chamar’ caste also figures among the notified scheduled castes list of Punjab. Mochi is a sub-caste of the Chamar community that deals with leather business. The Chamars usually process the hides, while the Mochis make leather products from them. Rana, who joined the BJP some time back, had won the Amravati Lok Sabha seat as an independent candidate backed by Sharad Pawar’s NCP in 2019. She has been nominated by the BJP to contest the Lok Sabha polls from the seat this time. In its order of June 8, 2021, the Bombay High Court had also imposed a fine of Rs 2 lakh on the Amravati MP, saying the records indicated that she belonged to the ‘Sikh-Chamar’ caste.

A division bench of the High Court had also directed her to surrender the certificate within six weeks Allowing Rana’s appeal against the HC order, a bench comprising justices J K Maheshwari and Sanjay Karol said that the High Court should not have interfered with the report of the Scrutiny Committee on her caste certificate. Upholding the validity of the caste certificate issued to Rana, the top court said, “In the instant case, the Scrutiny Committee duly considered the documents before it and passed its decision complying with principles of natural justice. It did not merit any interference (by the Bombay High Court) under Article 226. In light of the discussions, the instant appeal stands allowed and the High Court order is set aside,” Justice Maheshwari said while reading out the operative part of the judgement. A detailed judgement is awaited.