KOCHI: The High Court has held that authorities scrutinising caste claims under the Kerala (Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes) Regulation of Issue of Community Certificates Act, 1996, cannot insist that members of the SC/ST communities discharge the same burden of proof ordinarily expected of citizens when establishing their community identity.
The court said that the inability of members of the SC/ST communities to produce evidence substantiating their claim to belong to such communities cannot, by itself, and in the absence of any positive evidence to the contrary adduced by the state, be a reason to deprive them of the constitutional privileges guaranteed to them. “Instances are numerous where members of the Scheduled Caste/Scheduled Tribe communities are denied such benefits for want of identity documents to prove their identity as members of the said communities,” the court said.
The court issued the order while allowing a petition filed by V Balan of Poothol, Thrissur, a retired postal assistant, challenging a single judge’s order.
Balan was appointed as a postman in 1980 under the quota reserved for Scheduled Tribes, based on a caste certificate issued by the Tahsildar concerned, showing him as belonging to the Malai Pandaram community, a Scheduled Tribe.
While he was in service, the Director of Postal Services requested the Directorate of KIRTADS to investigate the genuineness of his caste status. Subsequently, the government issued an order stating that he belonged to the ‘Pandaram (Veera Saiva)’ community, which was included in the OBC category. The government also ordered his termination from service.
The petitioner challenged the order before a single judge, but his petition was dismissed. Hence, he filed the appeal before the Division Bench.