BENGALURU: After 11 long years of trial, an Additional Superintendent of Police has won a case against a Karnataka Administrative Service (KAS) officer, who is accused of getting the job by producing a fake caste certificate. The officer is currently posted as personal secretary to medical education minister Sharan Prakash Patil.
Sangappa Hasanappa Malennanavar, the minister’s secretary, had challenged the order of the Commissioner of the Backward Classes Welfare Department of January 23, 2006, wherein the caste certificate issued by the Deputy Commissioner, Income and Caste Verification Committee, Bagalkot, was held to be not genuine. The commissioner had also ordered criminal proceedings against Sangappa, a Lingayat (3-B), for obtaining a caste certificate showing him to be a Ganiga (2-A category), to claim reservation benefits.
Justice L Narayanaswamy of the Dharwad bench, while considering the contentions of the Additional Superintendent of Police M V Chandrakanth, Bengaluru Rural, on Tuesday dismissed Sangappa’s petition.
Sangappa was among the 1999 batch candidates selected for appointment to Gazetted Probationers Group A and B posts. He was posted as Assistant Commissioner on February 1, 2006 and Chandrakanth was appointed as Deputy Superintendent of Police.
In his judgment on Tuesday, Justice Narayanaswamy said, “It is made clear that the caste certificate of Sangappa’s father are of more probative value and not the certificate of Sangappa himself. The certificate of the father shows that he belongs to a particular caste (Lingayat) and therefore he cannot claim a different caste, for the benefits which he is not entitled to. The order passed by the Commissioner of Backward Classes is sound and proper.”
Sangappa’s counsel appealed to the judge to stay the order for one month to allow him to file an appeal against the order. When the judge refused, he pleaded that the judgment be kept in abeyance for 15 days. But judge did not consider that too, and observed, “Sorry.. you have played fraud with the state.”
During hearing of the case, the court had passed an interim order asking the government to maintain status quo since the appointment order was not yet issued after the selection list was announced by the Karnataka Public Service Commission.
Ignoring this, the state issued Sangappa’s appointment order. Later, he served as personal secretary to then Deputy CM M P Prakash. In the meantime, Sangappa got promotion from KAS Junior Scale, Senior Scale and Super Time Scale. After serving in different posts including as additional deputy commissioner, Sangappa was posted as personal secretary to Minister Sharan Prakash Patil from 2013.