Officials fined by Karnataka HC for withholding caste, income certificate

New Indian Express

10-07-2025

BENGALURU: The Karnataka High Court has imposed an exemplary cost of Rs 2 lakh on the then chairman and members of the District Caste and Income Verification Committee of Hassan which has to be paid from their pockets to the petitioner for declining to issue her a certificate validating the caste and income certificate that had already been issued.
The committee had told the petitioner that the income of her husband, who worked as a lecturer at a private college, is beyond the permissible threshold of the grant of such a certificate.
The petitioner, Muthulaxmi BN -- a resident of Channarayapatna -- suffered a delay of 12 months in getting the assistant public prosecutor's post because of the committee's unwillingness to issue her the certificate, which was given after the court's order. She moved the high court in 2024, challenging the committee's order dated March 6, 2024. After the court's order, the certificate was issued to her on April 24, 2024, and then she got the job.
The petitioner's counsel submitted that all others who were selected along with her on January 17, 2023 were given appointments.
Noting that the caste and income certificate would always depend on the father's income and not the income of the husband, Justice M Nagaprasanna observed that the state has time and again repeated same mistake of bringing the applicants to knock on the doors of courts. It is high time the state set its house in order and refrain from generating unnecessary litigation. The state, as its wont, has again repeated the same mistake, the judge said.
The court said that for 12 months, while others from the same select list stepped into service, the petitioner languished in anxious limbo. Her legitimate aspirations were swept under the weight of official indifference. This court cannot permit the curtain to fall on this matter with a mere note of closure. The law was clear, the precedent was binding, yet the officers, with impunity, chose to act in contravention, the court said.
It is a case where members of the committee must be mulcted with exemplary cost, as it is necessary not only to recompense the petitioner but to become a cautionary call to all those who hold public office, that dereliction cloaked in ignorance shall find no refuge before this court, the court added.