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HC refuses to confer mother's caste status to 18-yr-old student as his father belongs to Agri community
MUMBAI: The Bombay high court on Friday refused to grant an 18-year-old student the Scheduled Category (SC) status of his mother as his estranged father belonged to the Other Backward Class (OBC) category. The bench said the student 'was never discriminated against and did not suffer any disadvantages on account of his mother belonging to a Scheduled Caste community.' (Shutterstock)
In his petition, the teenager stated that his parents married on April 22, 2004, in Pali, Raigad district. Due to a matrimonial discord, they annulled their marriage by a decree of divorce passed by the Alibag court on July 2, 2016. In 2022-23, when the petitioner enrolled in junior college, his mother applied for his caste certificate as she belonged to the Chambhar community. The competent authority issued a certificate on February 7, 2023, declaring the student belonged to the Chambhar community. The petitioner's college forwarded the caste certificate to the caste scrutiny committee in Raigad for validation, as per the prevailing rules. On April 15, 2024, the scrutiny committee invalidated the caste claim and cancelled the caste certificate, prompting the student to approach the high court.
He contended his father belonged to the Hindu Agri community; however, he never cared for his son, who hence did not benefit from it. On the contrary, he claimed, he suffered deprivations, indignities, and humiliation for being a member of the SC community.
The argument, however, failed to impress the bench of Justice Revati Mohite Dere and Justice Dr Neela Gokhale. According to the vigilance report, there was no evidence that the 18-year-old did not face the challenges suffered by a person from the Chambar community. The bench rejected the student's petition based on the vigilance report. 'His maternal grandparents neither appear to be living in a backward area nor are their living conditions bereft of necessities, food, clean water, sanitation, and health care. Their lifestyle is satisfactory,' the court said. 'The scrutiny committee, therefore, concluded that the petitioner did not suffer any humiliation nor was he deprived of a good education.'
As he had an advantageous start in life without suffering from any disability, the bench said they were unable to accept that he was eligible to be declared as a person from the Chambhar community.
