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Surname no proof of ST status: Bombay HC
8 May 2009, 0349 hrs IST, Swati Deshpande, TNN
MUMBAI: Putting an end to the conflicting views on whether a surname alone is sufficient proof to certify whether a person belongs to a Scheduled Tribe, the Bombay high court on Thursday held that the name per se was not enough to establish one’s caste. ‘‘An affinity test is necessary to verify the genuineness of the claim,’’ the court held.
The court laid down strict norms to ensure that caste certificates for Scheduled Tribes were issued after stringent verification and that ‘‘impostors do not get away by pulling a fraud on the constitution’’. The court said, ‘‘The verification process should not be reduced to a mere mechanical exercise.’’
A three-judge bench comprising Chief Justice Swatanter Kumar, Justice V C Daga and Justice D Y Chandrachood noted that Maharashtra had witnessed an unprecedented rise in the ST population and in the number of fraudulent ST claims. It said that "the mere fact that a surname like Thakur or Son Koli is synonymous with the name of a designated tribe is not sufficient to establish that it belongs to the tribe. It would lead to grave injustice to other genuine claimants. They must demonstrate that they belong to a scheduled tribe.’’
Surname no proof of ST status: Bombay HC - India - The Times of India
8 May 2009, 0349 hrs IST, Swati Deshpande, TNN
MUMBAI: Putting an end to the conflicting views on whether a surname alone is sufficient proof to certify whether a person belongs to a Scheduled Tribe, the Bombay high court on Thursday held that the name per se was not enough to establish one’s caste. ‘‘An affinity test is necessary to verify the genuineness of the claim,’’ the court held.
The court laid down strict norms to ensure that caste certificates for Scheduled Tribes were issued after stringent verification and that ‘‘impostors do not get away by pulling a fraud on the constitution’’. The court said, ‘‘The verification process should not be reduced to a mere mechanical exercise.’’
A three-judge bench comprising Chief Justice Swatanter Kumar, Justice V C Daga and Justice D Y Chandrachood noted that Maharashtra had witnessed an unprecedented rise in the ST population and in the number of fraudulent ST claims. It said that "the mere fact that a surname like Thakur or Son Koli is synonymous with the name of a designated tribe is not sufficient to establish that it belongs to the tribe. It would lead to grave injustice to other genuine claimants. They must demonstrate that they belong to a scheduled tribe.’’
Surname no proof of ST status: Bombay HC - India - The Times of India