Service Law – Dismissal from service – Cancellation of caste certificate – Respondent obtained employment against a post which was reserved for the Scheduled Caste – Her caste certificate was invalidated by the Tehsildar on the ground that she did not belong to a Scheduled Caste by birth and her marriage to a person belonging to a Scheduled Caste would not entitle her to benefit of the reservation for persons belonging to the caste of her spouse – Appellant passed an order dismissing the first respondent from the service – Single Judge of the High Court directed the appellant to reconsider the claim of the first respondent for reinstatement – Division Bench dismissed the appeal on the ground of delay of five hundred and sixty-four days – On appeal, held: Declining to condone delay in the instant case would have serious consequences of allowing an imposter to continue the benefit of a reserved seat – This is not just a matter of detriment to the State but to genuine aspirants to the reserved seat who would be ousted – Division Bench ought to have condoned delay – No fault can be found with the conduct of the appellant in convening a disciplinary enquiry – The findings of the enquiry was unexceptionable – Punishment imposed could not be regarded as disproportionate.
Chairman and Managing Director, Food Corporation of India v. Jagdish Balaram Bahira (2017) 8 SCC 670 : [2017] 11 SCR 271; Valsamma Paul v. Cochin
University (1996) 3 SCC 545 : [1996] 1 SCR 128 – relied on.
Anjan Kumar v. Union of India (2006) 3 SCC 257 : [2006] 2 SCR 208; Solunke v. State of Maharashtra (2012) 8 SCC 430 : [2012] 7 SCR 251; Shalini v. New English High School Association (2013) 16 SCC 526 : [2013] 12 SCR 807 – referred to.
As published in the Supreme Court Reports, Supreme Court of India. Text from the Indian Supreme Court Judgments open data set (Dattam Labs), CC BY 4.0.
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