Arti Devi Sanyal vs State Of Punjab And Others

Augustine George Masih, J

Challenge in this writ petition is to the speaking order dated 26.11.2019 (Annexure P-22) vide which the selection of the petitioner as Ayurvedic Medical Officer has been set aside on the ground that she does not belong to the Scheduled Castes Category of the State of Punjab and on the ground that the Scheduled Castes certificate, which has been issued to the petitioner, is in the name of her husband and not in the name of her father.

Petitioner has approached this Court with a prayer that despite she belonging to the Scheduled Castes Category as declared in the State of Himachal Pradesh, on marriage had to shift to Punjab, where she is married in a Scheduled Caste family. After having moved into Punjab because of her marriage, she applied for the Scheduled Castes Category certificate, which was issued to her on 01.06.2015 (Annex. P17) by the competent authority. Since by now the petitioner had married, the certificate was issued in the name of her husband and not in the name of her father. Counsel for the petitioner contends that the candidature of the petitioner could not have been rejected by the respondents firstly on the ground that the Scheduled Castes Category certificate has been issued in the name of her husband and secondly on the ground that she originally belongs to Himachal Pradesh.

This contention of the counsel for the petitioner cannot be accepted in the light of the judgment of the Hon'ble Supreme Court in Ranjana Kumari v. State of Uttarakhand, 2019 (1) S.C.T. 25, which had relied upon two Constitution Bench judgments of the Hon'ble Supreme Court in Marri Chandra Shekhar Rao v. Dean, Seth G.S. Medical College, (1990) 3 SCC 130 and Action Committee on Issue of Caste Certificate to Scheduled Castes & Scheduled Tribes in the State of Maharashtra v. Union of India, 1994 (4) S.C.T. 435.

In view of the above, the writ petition stands dismissed.