Disagrees with judgment of Bombay High Court in 2014

Persons who secured government employment and got academic admissions under reserved categories with the help of forged caste certificates can have their jobs and admission declared invalid, the Supreme Court held on Thursday.

No protection, says court

A Bench of Chief Justice J.S. Khehar and Justice D.Y. Chandrachud disagreed with a Bombay High Court decision in 2014 that public servants who got their jobs using fake caste certificates and have spent considerable time in service can be afforded protection.

The High Court had said that such persons could be allowed to keep their jobs.

The verdict came on a batch of petitions, including the one filed by the Maharashtra government against the High Court’s December 2014 judgment.

The Supreme Court, however, said the findings of its verdict would not be made applicable with retrospective effect.

The three-judge Bench of the High Court had framed two questions: “Whether the relief of protection of service after invalidation of the caste claim can be granted by the High Court” on the basis of a 2012 apex court judgment; if the answer is ‘yes,’ then can such relief of protection of service be granted to them whose cases have already been rejected by it. The High Court had answered the first question in the affirmative and held that mere invalidation of caste certificate would not lead to cessation of service.

“Mere invalidation of the caste claim by the Scrutiny Committee would not entail the consequences of withdrawal of benefits or discharge from the employment or cancellation of appointments that have become final,” the HC had concluded.

There cannot be any straitjacket formula laid down either to refuse or grant protection in the employment either at the initial stage or at the promotional stage, it had said. The approach has to be practical and pragmatic rather than technical and pedantic keeping in view the object and purpose of the Constitution in providing the benefits and concessions to a particular category of backward class, the High Court had observed.

The government had informed the Lok Sabha in March that 1,832 appointments were allegedly secured on the basis of fake caste certificates.