HC cancels caste certificate of Amravati MP Navneet Rana
The impartial MP, who received from a constituency reserved for Scheduled Castes, stated she would problem the decision within the Supreme Court.
The Bombay High Court on Tuesday cancelled the caste certificate of Amravati Lok Sabha member Navneet Kaur Rana, saying it was obtained fraudulently utilizing fabricated paperwork, and likewise imposed a price of ₹2 lakh on her.
The impartial MP, who received from a constituency reserved for Scheduled Castes, stated she would problem the decision within the Supreme Court.
A division bench of Justices R.D. Dhanuka and V.G. Bisht requested Rana to give up the certificate inside six weeks and requested her to pay a price of ₹2 lakh to the Maharashtra Legal Services Authority inside two weeks.
The HC held that Ms. Rana’s declare of belonging to ‘Mochi’ caste for acquiring the Scheduled Caste certificate itself was fraudulent and made with the intention of acquiring numerous advantages obtainable to a candidate from such class, regardless of realizing she doesn’t belong to that caste.
Ms. Rana was elected from Maharashtra’s Amravati Lok Sabha seat in 2019. She is impartial, however backed by the NCP.
“The application (for caste certificate) was made intentionally to make a fraudulent claim to enable the respondent no.3 (Rana) to contest the election for the post of Member of Parliament on a seat reserved for a Scheduled Caste candidate,” the HC stated in its judgement.
“In our view, since respondent no.3 has obtained the caste certificate fraudulently and got it validated fraudulently from the Caste Scrutiny Committee by producing fabricated and fraudulent documents, such caste certificate is cancelled and stands confiscated,” the bench stated.
It is useless to look at that every one the implications in regulation offering upon cancellation of such fraudulently obtained caste certificate and caste validity certificate shall comply with, the HC added.
The court docket in its judgement additionally famous the “abysmal” functioning of the scrutiny committee.
The HC handed its order on a petition filed by social employee Anandrao Adsule, looking for cancellation of the caste certificate dated August 30, 2013, issued by Mumbai Deputy Collector, figuring out Ms. Rana as belonging to the ‘Mochi’ caste.
Mr. Adsule had filed a grievance with the Mumbai District Caste Certificate Scrutiny Committee, which dominated in Rana’s favour and validated the certificate. He then approached the excessive court docket.
He contended that Ms. Rana obtained the certificate utilizing solid and fabricated paperwork.
It was obtained through the use of the affect of Navneet Rana’s husband Ravi Rana, who was a member of the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly, he alleged.
The excessive court docket held that the order handed by the Scrutiny Committee was “totally perverse, without the application of mind and contrary to the evidence on record”.
The bench famous that the unique beginning certificate of Navneet Rana didn’t point out the caste ‘Mochi’.
“In our view, there are two sets of documents produced by the respondent no.3 (Navneet Rana) which were contradictory to each other before the scrutiny committee. The respondent no.3 had claimed to be ‘Sikh Chamar’ as well as ‘Ravidasiya Mochi’,” the HC stated.
“A wrong caste validity certificate granted in favour of the party who does not belong to that caste may deprive a genuine and deserving person belonging to such reserve category of the benefits prescribed in the Constitution of India,” the court docket stated in its order.
The HC stated in its view, the phrases ‘Chamar’ and ‘Mochi’ usually are not synonymous and are totally different identities.
The scrutiny committee did its job “rather sloppily and shirked the obligations” imposed on it, the HC noticed.
“The scrutiny committee has totally ignored the objections raised by the complainant and also by the Vigilance Cell in respect of the documents (submitted by Navneet Rana to support her claim that she belongs to Mochi caste),” it stated.
It stated the scrutiny committee allowed the caste declare in favour of Navneet Rana regardless that she didn’t “discharge her burden by producing authentic and clear evidence”.
“The scrutiny committee is not an adjudicating authority but an administrative body that verifies facts, investigates into a specific claim of caste status and ascertains whether the caste/tribe status claim is correct or not,” the court docket stated.
Mr. Rana stated she is going to method the Supreme Court towards the HC verdict.
“I respect the (high) court’s order as a citizen of this country. I will approach the Supreme Court, I am confident that I will get justice,” the Amravati MP stated.