New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Thursday allowed
the Chhattisgarh government to examine the authenticity of the
caste certificate of former Chief Minister Ajit Jogi who is
alleged to be holding a fraudulent document for claiming a
Scheduled Tribe status.
In a set back to the senior Congress leader, a bench
headed by Justice R V Raveendran allowed the plea of the state
governemnt challenging the Chhattisgarh High Court order which
had restrained it from holding an inquiry into his caste
status.
"The state government through a duly-constituted Scrutiny
Committee shall now undertake the verification/scrutiny of the
social status (tribal) certificates issued to the first
respondent(Jogi) showing him as belonging to ‘Kanwar’
Scheduled Tribe," the bench said.
The state government had filed the SLP challenging the
clean chit given to Jogi by the High Court on December 15,
2006.
The state governemnt submitted the High Court had passed
the order in favour of Jogi without properly examining the
evidence on record and the findings of the National Commission
for Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribes which reportedly
found prima facie evidence against the former Chief
Minister.
PTI
