New Delhi, Sept. 20 -- The Madras High Court has upheld the cancellation of a Chennai Port Trust employee's Scheduled Tribe (ST) community certificate after authorities concluded that he belonged to the Urali Gounder community and not the Urali tribe. The court also refused to direct the release of his full pension, gratuity, leave salary and other terminal benefits.

In A. Jegannathan v. The Chairman, Chennai Port Trust & Others, decided on 16 September 2026, Justice D. Bharatha Chakravarthy held that the verification of a community certificate could not be blocked merely because the employee had retired or the certificate had been issued decades earlier.

Jegannathan was issued a community certificate stating that he belonged to the Hin...