Mumbai: The Bombay High Court has held
that a girl -- who lost two jobs because she had no caste
validity certificate -- is entitled to get compensation from
Caste Scrutiny Committee.
Pulling up the committee for not taking decision in
time, Court imposed a cost of Rs 25,000 on Committee members.
Petitioner Vaishali Suryavanshi, member of `Tokare
Koli` community, a Scheduled Tribe, had applied to Committee
for Scrutiny and Verification of Tribe Claims, at Nandurbar
for getting a caste verification certificate.
In 2008, she filed a petition, as committee had not
decided her case. Court, in April last year, asked the
Committee to dispose of her application in two months.
But still, the Committee failed to act. In the
meanwhile, she cleared an examination for the post of clerk at
Co-operative Societies Registrar`s office, and was selected in
the reserved category. She was also selected for clerk`s post
in General Administration Department in Mantralaya.
But she could not get either of the jobs, because she
had no verified caste certificate to prove her ST status.
Division bench of Chief Justice Swatanter Kumar and
Justice A M Khanwilkar held that a "sense of public
accountability is lacking in the members of the Committee".
Asking Committee to pay Rs 25,000 to her as costs,
court asked it to verify her caste certificate in four weeks.
PTI
