Kolkata, Sept. 10 -- The Calcutta High Court has quashed the cancellation of the Scheduled Tribe (ST) certificates of seven siblings, holding that an alleged illegal cancellation without following the prescribed procedure can be examined by the State Scrutiny Committee.

Justice Krishna Rao set aside the July 29 order of the Sub-Divisional Officer (SDO), Jangipur, which cancelled or impounded the certificates of the siblings, who are children of Ainul Hoque. Their ST certificates, identifying them as members of the Bedia tribe, had been issued between 2005 and 2014.

The proceedings followed a complaint alleging that non-tribal candidates had secured appointments as Assistant Professors in government-aided general degree colleges under the ST quota. During the inquiry, the authorities relied on Block Development Officer reports which stated that the petitioners' ancestral lineage belonged to the Shershabadia community, recognised as an OBC in West Bengal. The petitioners maintained that they belonged to the Bedia tribe and produced documents in support of their claim. They appeared at several hearings before the SDO.

The High Court found that the SDO had relied on two BDO reports without supplying them to the petitioners. The complaint was also not served on them. The SDO had additionally sought an expert identification and anthropological report from the Cultural Research Institute, but no report had been received when the certificates were cancelled.

The court noted that the SDO had not referred the proceedings to the State Scrutiny Committee. It described the Committee as a high-powered expert body with the expertise and machinery to properly examine the social status of a person whose certificate has been cancelled.

The court held that cancellation of an ST certificate without following the procedure under the law amounts to a contravention that can come under the Committee's supervisory jurisdiction.

The SDO's order was therefore quashed. The SDO was directed to refer the proceedings to the State Scrutiny Committee, which must decide the issue of cancellation, impounding or revocation after giving the petitioners an opportunity of hearing within three months of receiving the records.

Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from Millennium Post.