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Judgment
K.K. Sasidharan, J.—These two Writ Petitions are directed against the order dated 15.11.2008 on the file of the District Level Vigilance
Committee whereby and whereunder the Community Certificates issued in favour of the Petitioners were cancelled on the ground that those
certificates were not genuine.
The Petitioners were earlier issued with certificates indicating that they belong to Hindu-Panan community which is notified as a Scheduled Caste
Community. There was a Complaint raised against the Petitioners alleging that they have obtained false Community Certificates and this resulted in
initiation of enquiry by the District Level Vigilance Committee. The Petitioners, pursuant to the notice, appeared before the said Committee for
enquiry on 15.11.2008. The District Level Vigilance Committee arrived at a finding on the basis of records that the Petitioners do not belong to
reserved community and accordingly it was ordered to cancel the Scheduled Caste Community Certificate obtained by the Petitioners. Being
aggrieved by the said order, the Petitioners are before this Court.
The First Respondent in his Counter justified the order passed by the District Level Vigilance Committee. According to the First Respondent,
the records submitted by the respective Petitioners were not genuine and it was only on perusal of those records, the Committee has come to a
conclusion that both the Petitioners do not belong to Hindu-Panan community, which is notified as a Scheduled Caste Community.
The learned Senior Counsel appearing for the Petitioners contended that the issue was considered by an incompetent authority inasmuch as the
District Collector was not present during the time of enquiry and as such the impugned order is liable to be set aside. The learned Senior Counsel
has also raised other contentions on merits.
The Core issue is whether the order passed by the District Level Vigilance Committee was correct, in view of the substantial contentions raised
by the Petitioners that the District Collector was absent at the time of enquiry.
The enquiry in question was held on 12.11.2008. Even before the receipt of the order cancelling the Scheduled Caste certificates issued to the
Petitioners, they have preferred a Complaint to the Collector on 17.11.2008 wherein it was indicated that the enquiry in question was conducted
by the Sub-Collector and that they were not satisfied with the enquiry conducted by him. The Petitioners have also admitted that the other two
members were present at the time of enquiry. In the said representation, the Petitioners sought the intervention of the Collector on the ground that
the enquiry was not properly conducted by the Sub-Collector. Though the said representation was received by the Collector on 19.11.2008, he
has not responded to the said issue raised by the Petitioners. Subsequently, the Petitioners received the impugned order dated 15.11.2008. They
have filed an Appeal on 14.12.2008, wherein they have raised a specific issue regarding the absence of the Collector during the course of enquiry.
Even though the Petitioners have raised this issue both in their representation dated 17.11.2008 as well as in the Affidavit filed in support of the
present Writ Petitions, the First Respondent has not chosen to deny the said allegation. In fact, the representation dated 17.11.2008 very clearly
shows that the enquiry was not conducted by the Collector. In any case, reply should have been given by the First Respondent at the earliest point
of time, in case they were present during the time of enquiry.
Therefore, we are not in a position to ignore the contention raised by the Petitioners with respect to the absence of the District Collector at the
time of enquiry. Since the Petitioners have produced the documents evidencing the non-participation of the District Collector during the course of
enquiry, we are inclined to set aside the entire order. The Committee consisted only two members, as the Sub-Collector was not competent to
conduct the proceedings. Accordingly, we set aside the impugned order and the matter is remitted to the District Level Vigilance Committee for
fresh consideration. It is open to the Petitioners to produce documents before the committee to substantiate their contention that they belonged to
Hindu-Panan community. Since the matter is of the year 2008, the District Level Vigilance Committee is directed to consider the issue as early as
possible and preferably within a period of two months from the date of receipt or production of a copy of this order.
The Writ Petitions are allowed as indicated above. No costs.