SC orders release of degree to Yavatmal student caught in caste verification delay
Nagpur: In a case highlighting the consequences of administrative delays in caste verification, the
Supreme Court
recently directed
North Maharashtra University
, Jalgaon, to release the marks sheet and degree certificate of a
BTech graduate
whose caste claim was invalidated years after he completed his course.
A division bench of justices Bhushan Gavai and Augustine George Masih, while disposing of the appeal filed by Anand Patel of Yavatmal, ruled that his completed education must not be jeopardised due to prolonged inaction by the caste scrutiny committee. Patel secured admission to a chemical engineering course under the OBC quota in 2015, claiming to belong to the Kunbi community.
"The appellant's education deserves to be protected," the court observed, while clarifying that Patel will not be entitled to any future benefits linked to the OBC category.
"We are passing this order in the peculiar facts and circumstances of the case and the same shall not be treated as a precedent," the bench said.
Patel's caste certificate was sent for verification in 2015, but no decision was made for years. He was forced to approach the Bombay High Court's Nagpur bench in 2017. In a judgment delivered in February 2020, the High Court slammed the scrutiny committee's "callous attitude" and imposed personal costs of Rs75,000 on its members.
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Though the scrutiny panel later invalidated Patel's claim on March 11, 2020, he had already completed his final year examinations by then.
After authorities withheld his mark sheets and degree, Patel moved the Aurangabad bench of the High Court, which dismissed his petition on the grounds that he was not entitled to relief due to the invalidation of his caste status. He then challenged the HC's ruling in the Supreme Court through counsel Shilpa Giratkar.
The apex court, however, took a different view. "The scrutiny committee failed to decide the claim within a reasonable period. The appellant was compelled to litigate though no fault of his own," Giratkar contended.
"The respondents (North Maharashtra University) are directed to release the marks sheets and degree certificate of the petitioner within a period of four weeks," the bench said before disposing of the plea.
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