Madras HC summons RDO for cancelling panchayat president's community certificate

MADURAI:  The Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court on Monday summoned the Periyakulam revenue divisional officer (RDO) for cancelling the community certificate of a panchayat president in G Kallupatti village in Theni. Hearing a petition filed by the panchayat president against the cancellation of the certificate, a Bench of justices D Krishnakumar and R Vijayakumar stayed the RDO's order and adjourned the case to Wednesday.

The petitioner, P Maheswari, stated that she belongs to Scheduled Caste (Hindu Kuravan community) and had won the panchayat election in G Kallupatti village, which was reserved for SC candidates, in 2019. But, due to political vengeance, the opposition party candidate gave a false complaint claiming that I had submitted a fake community certificate to contest in the election, she added.

Following this, the Theni collector had cancelled Maheswari's community certificate in April 2021, but the collector's order was set aside by the high court in June last year, with a direction to the state or district level vigilance committee to take a call after conducting proper inquiry as per the procedure prescribed in the GOs, passed by the Adi Dravidar and Tribal Welfare department in 2007 and 2012, within three months. However, notwithstanding the court's order, the RDO had cancelled my community certificate on December 26, 2022, despite a legal notice sent by me pointing out that the RDO does not have any jurisdiction, the petitioner said.