Harvinder Kaur Oberoi, Member (J)
1. The applicant, a domicile of Delhi, participated in a recruitment exercise conducted by the SSC for the post of Constable (GD) in Central Armed Police Forces. He applied against the Advt. notification dated 24.11.2023 under the Scheduled Tribe (ST) category and was allotted Roll No. 2201082922.
2. The applicant participated and cleared the three stages of the Examination, however, after completion of detailed medical examination/document verification, the applicant received a Rejection Slip/Order dated 29.10.2024 rejecting his candidature for the post of Constable/GD Examination-2024, stating that the “Original Caste Certificate was not produced/not in prescribed format/not signed/issued by competent authority".
Aggrieved by the same the applicant first approached the Hon’ble High Court of Delhi, vide W.P.(C) No. 16738/2024. The writ petition was disposed of by the Hon’ble High Court of Delhi on 04.12.2024, directing the applicant to first approach the Tribunal. Hence, the applicant has approached this Tribunal seeking the following relief:-
“a) Issue appropriate writ/order(s)/direction(s) including the writ in the nature of certiorari quashing the rejection orders dated 29.10.2024 issued the Petutioner by P.O/Member of Rectt. Board of Respondent No. 1.
b) Issue appropriate writ/order(s)/direction(s) including the writ in the nature of mandamus directing the respondents to accept the Schedule Tribe Certificate of the Petitioner and accordingly accept the candidature of the Petitioner for the post of Constable/GD Examination-2024;
c) Issue appropriate writ/order(s)/direction(s) including the writ in the nature of mandamus to Government of NCT to issue/update list of ST in its category,
d) Pass any other order(s) in favour of the Petitioner and in larger interest of justice which this Honourable Court may deem fit.”
3. Learned counsel for the applicant, at the outset submitted that the applicant is a Domicile of Delhi as per the Domicile Certificate dated 23.10.2024. He possesses a valid caste certificate issued by the Revenue Department, GNCTD which very clearly states that the applicant belongs to the Kharwar Caste.
4. She then drew attention to the State/Union Territory-wise list of Scheduled Tribes in India placed at Annexure (A-9) of the OA and submitted that the Applicant’s Caste i.e. Kharwar is clearly mentioned as ST caste from the State of Bihar at S. No. 17. She thus submitted that the respondent’s action in rejecting the applicant’s candidature for want of a valid caste certificate is illegal and arbitrary in nature.
5. Learned counsel for the respondents submitted that it was clearly mentioned in the Advertisement notification that the candidature of the candidates would be provisionally accepted and copies of the original documents would be sought after the medical examination. Accordingly, the candidates were required to submit their documents for verification at the time of the detailed medical examination. He draws attention to Para 6.1 and 6.2 the Advt. Notification dated 24.11.2023, which read as under:-
“6.1 Candidates who wish to be considered against reserved vacancies/ or seek age-relaxation are required to submit requisito certificate from the competent authority, in the prescribed format, when such certificates are sought by concerned CAPFs for document verification at the time of DME. Otherwise, their claim for SC/ST/OBC/ EWS category will not be entertained and their candidature/ applications will be considered under Un-reserved (UR) category. Further, if a candidate has sought any other age-relaxation or claimed ESM status and is not able to produce the relevant certificate, he will be considered in his respective category le. SC/ST/OBC/ EWS/ UR. The formats of the certificates are annexed with the Notice of Examination.
6.2 A candidate belonging to a caste of SC, ST or OBC category, on migration from one State to another State will have to make an informed choice whether to get the benefit of reservation in the State of origin or to appear as unreserved candidate from the State of migration. Such choice will have to be exercised by the candidate in the online Application Form. No request for change of such option, after the submission of Application Form, will be entertained by the Commission. In case, a candidate opts to avail the benefit of reservation from the State of origin, he will have to submit information about the District and State of his origin as well as the District and State of his current domicile in the Application Form and his candidature will be considered from the State of origin. Such candidates will not be required to submit Domicile Certificate from the State of origin.”
6. He submitted the caste certificate had to be in the requisite format as prescribed by the Government of India as per Annexure-VI of the Advertisement notification or else the candidature will be considered under the General/Unreserved category. He submitted that during the process of documents verification, the applicant had produced certificate of ST category which could not be accepted for the reason it was not in accordance with the prescribed guidelines of Government of India, which states that if a candidate belonging to SC/ST category migrates from one State to another state, on migration he does not lose his status as SC/ST, but will be entitled to the concessions/benefits admissible to the SC/ST from the State of origin and not from the state he has migrated to.
Hence, he submitted that the applicant could not be given benefit of ST category being domicile of Delhi State, as his ST category Certificate belonging to Kharwar community was issued by the NCT of Delhi and this category is not mentioned in the central list from domicile state. Accordingly, the applicant’s category was changed from ST to UR as per the provisions of the Notice of the said exam.
7. In rejoinder, learned counsel appearing on behalf of the applicant submitted that respondents have admitted that if a candidate belonging to the SC/ST category migrates from one state to another State, on migration he does not lose his status as SC/ST. Hence, petitioner's ST category Certificate belonging to Kharwar community issued by NCT of Delhi has to be considered for the purposes of appointment. She placed reliance on the decision of the Hon’ble High Court of Delhi in W.P.(C) No. 4487/2017 - Rakesh Meena Vs. SSC dated 22.03.2023, wherein the Hon’ble Court has granted relief to the applicant therein under similar circumstances. The relevant Paras of the same read as under:-
“10. In the afore-noted communication dated 24.07.2017, the respondent has mentioned that in cases where the vacancies and merit is State wise, the category has to be notified in the ST Central List of Delhi; whereas Meena/Mina caste is not notified in the ST Central List of Delhi.
11. On this aspect we find that time and again various instructions/clarifications on the question of admissibility of caste certificate in respect of candidates belonging to the reserved categories upon being migrated to the other State, have been issued. It has been made clear that for the purpose of education, employment etc., the competent authority of the State/Union Territory of the origin State, upon being satisfied or pursuant to an inquiry, has to issue a Caste Certificate to a candidate and upon being migrated from the State/U.T. of his origin to another State/U.T, where his caste is not mentioned in list, the concessions and benefits from the State of his origin and Union Government, shall be admissible and not from the State where he has migrated to.”
She submitted that the Hon’ble High Court has affirmed that even if a candidate migrates to a State or Union Territory where their caste is not listed in the ST Central List, they are still entitled to reservation benefits as long as their caste is recognized in the State of origin. The competent authority from the domicile (Delhi, in this case) can issue a caste certificate based on the candidate's origin, and the benefits of ST status will be extended accordingly for purposes like education or employment under the Central Government.
8. Heard the parties and perused the documents on record.
9. The applicant, though a domicile of Delhi, belongs to the Kharwar community which is recognized as a Scheduled Tribe (ST) in the State of Bihar. He has submitted a valid caste certificate issued by the competent authority of the Government of NCT of Delhi certifying his belonging to the Kharwar community. The rejection of the applicant’s candidature on the ground that the caste certificate was not in the prescribed format or not issued by a competent authority is untenable, particularly in light of the decision of the Hon’ble High Court of Delhi in Rakesh Meena v. SSC (supra).
10. It is well settled that a person migrating from one State to another does not lose his status as a member of the Scheduled Tribe if his tribe is recognized in the State of origin. While the candidate may not be entitled to benefits reserved under the SC/ST category in the State of migration, he remains eligible for central benefits, including those arising from Central Government employment, provided the caste is recognized as a Scheduled Tribe in the State of origin.
11. This position has been reiterated through several government communications and upheld by courts, including the communication dated 24.07.2017 relied upon in the Rakesh Meena (supra) judgment. The Court in that case directed that the caste certificate issued by the NCT of Delhi, even though the Meena community was not recognized as ST in Delhi, had to be accepted for central recruitment purposes because the caste was recognized in the candidate’s State of origin and we see no justification to take a divergent view from that adopted by the Hon’ble High Court of Delhi in Rakesh Meena (supra).
12. In view of what has been discussed herein above, the present OA is disposed with the following directions:-
12.1. The impugned order dated 29.10.2024 is quashed and set aside.
12.2 The respondents are directed to accept the caste certificate on record as valid caste certificate and to issue him offer of appointment for the post of Constable (GD) as per his merit position. The offer of appointment be issued within four weeks from the date of receipt of a certified copy of this order.
12.3 The applicant’s seniority shall be fixed as per his merit position in the Constable (GD) Examination-2024, from the date his batchmates have been appointed. Needless to say, applying the principle of "no work, no pay", the applicant shall not be entitled to any arrears of salary or other financial benefits for the period prior to his actual joining of duty.
13. The OA is disposed of in the aforesaid terms. No costs.
