S. Parimala Devi vs The Revenue Divisional Officer

This Writ Petition is filed praying to call for records in Na.Ka.B2/7424/2010 dated 28.11.2012 of the respondent and quash the orders passed therein and consequently direct the respondent to issue a permanent community certificate in favour of the petitioner as belonging to the Hindu Kurumans Schedule Tribe Community within a time frame as fixed by this Hon''ble Court by the issue of a Writ of Certiorarified Mandamus and pass such other or further orders as this Hon''ble Court may deem fit and proper in the facts and circumstances of the case. Heard Mr. W.M. Abdul Majeed, learned counsel appearing for the petitioner and Mr. A.L. Somayaji, learned Advocate General assisted by Mr. S.P. Prabhakaran, learned Additional Government Pleader, appearing for the respondent.

This is the second round of litigation. During the first round of litigation, this court passed the following order in W.P. No. 19885 of 2010 dated 29.10.2010:-

On the above submission/we heard Mr. M. Dhandapani, learned Special Government Pleader appearing for the respondents and he would fairly submit that ''Kurumbar'' Community is not a community notified under the Government Order.

In our opinion, as it is not in dispute that ''Kurumbar'' community is not one of the communities notified by the Government, for the purpose of identifying the status of an individual, that community cannot be taken into consideration. If that be so, the finding of the second respondent that the petitioner belongs to ''Kurumbar'' community cannot be sustained and as a necessary corollary, the same cannot be the reason for rejecting the request of the petitioner for issuance of Kurumans community certificate.

In view of the above, we are inclined to accept the submission of the learned counsel for the petitioner. Accordingly, the impugned order is set aside and the matter is now remitted to the second respondent, Revenue Divisional Officer, Vellore, Vellore District, for fresh consideration of the application of the petitioner. The petitioner shall file an affidavit of her parents/guardians duly sworn to and attested by a competent gazetted officer or non-gazetted officer with particulars of caste and sub castes, tribe, tribal community, parts or groups of tribes or tribal communities, the place from which she originally hails from and other particulars as may be prescribed by the concerned Directorate. Such an affidavit shall be filed by the petitioner together with any other further materials that may be available with her within a period of thirty days from the date of receipt of copy of the order. On receipt of the same, the Revenue Divisional Officer, Vellore, Vellore District, shall consider the application of the petitioner independently and without reference to the earlier finding that the petitioner belongs to ''Kurumbar'' community and pass necessary orders on that application in a period of two months therefrom.

With the above direction the writ petition is allowed. No costs.

Based on the above order of this court, the petitioner submitted details to the Revenue Divisional Officer on 2.12.2010 which has been acknowledged and the postal acknowledgement is also filed. Thereafter, after series of personal reminders, the impugned order has been passed.

4.1. We find that the impugned order deserves to be set aside on the following grounds.

4.2. In para 4 of the earlier order dated 29.10.2010 passed in W.P. No. 19885 of 2010, it has been clearly held by a Division Bench of this Court that "Kurumbar" Community is not one of the communities notified by the Government. We have also noted in the order passed today in W.P. Nos. 25963 and 25964 of 2007 reiterating this finding and the Writ Petition Nos. 25963 and 25964 of 2007 have been disposed of stating that the authority should not refer the nomenclature "Kurumbar" since it does not find place in the Presidential Notification.

4.3. The reasoning given by the authority which is extracted hereunder is only on the ground that in view of the report given by the Assistant Professor, Department of Anthropology, University of Madras, the petitioner belongs to the ''Kurumbar'' community, which falls under Most Backward Community and therefore, the petitioner is not entitled to ''kurumans'' Scheduled Tribe Community Certificate.

4.4. The above finding of the Revenue Divisional Officer is contrary to the para 4 of the judgment referred to in W.P. No. 19885 of 2010 dated 29.10.2010 and therefore, there is total non application of mind bordering on contempt. Reliance is placed on the report of Dr. K. Parimurugan, Assistant Professor, Department of Anthropology, University of Madras dated 28.11.2012 which reads as follows:-

I herewith enclosed arthrographic (not clear) report of Kurumba Community of Tamil Nadu. The Kurumba people who live in various Districts are fall under M.B.C. Categories. The Kurumba Chlu, Pal, Mullu, Then, and Beffer Kurumba of "Nilagiris" are fall under S.T. Category. The Kurumans who live in Vellore District are fall under M.B.C. Category.

The above report has no relevance insofar as the petitioner''s claim is concerned, because a query was raised on 27.11.2012 by the Revenue Divisional Officer, Vellore, to Assistant Professor, Anthropologist, Chennai and surprisingly on the very next day, (i.e.) on 28.11.2012, the reply of the anthropologist has been received and on that basis, the impugned order was passed on the very same day. One fails to understand as to how the letter/report from Chennai would reach Vellore on the same day and the order could be passed on the basis of that letter/report the very same day. Apparently, it shows that the impugned order has been predated without realising the dates. Nevertheless, the report of the Anthropologist as above does not relate to the claim of the petitioner in the present case and it is general in terms.

4.5. Prima facie we have no hesitation to hold that the impugned order is bad for the reason that the Revenue Divisional Officer cannot state that the petitioner belongs to "kurumbar" (MBC) Community in view of the clear finding of this court that such a name "Kurumbar" is not a community notified in the Presidential Notification. In the earlier order in W.P. No. 19885 of 2010, a Division Bench of this Court emphasised that the Revenue Divisional Officer shall consider the application of the petitioner independently and without reference to the earlier finding that the petitioner belongs to ''Kurumbar'' community. The specific direction has been overlooked.

4.6. Further five certificates have been relied upon in the impugned proceedings. The first document is a college transfer certificate stating that the petitioner belongs to ''Kurumba'' which is a Most Backward Community. The documents 2 to 5 are community certificates issued in respect of petitioner''s relatives. Learned counsel for the petitioner states that the documents relied on by the petitioner in support of his claim have not been considered by the respondent. Further, the documents relied on by the respondent in passing the present impugned order have neither been shown to the petitioner nor the copies have been provided to the petitioner. Therefore there is a violation of principles of natural justice as those documents have not been furnished to the petitioner. This is impliedly conveyed in para 21 of the affidavit and it reads as follows:-

I respectfully submit that the documents relied on by me in support of my claim as well as the affidavits filed by me and on my behalf have not been considered. The documents purportedly relied on by the respondent in passing the present impugned order have neither been shown to me nor the copies have been provided to me. The respondent has failed to consider the fact that the School Transfer Certificate of mother Saroja clearly reveals that she belongs to Hindu Kurumans Community. The respondent in item No. 2 of the impugned order ''speaks about the community certificate dated 07.10.2010 allegedly issued by the Tahsildar, Gudiyatham, which claims that my mother Saroja belongs to the said non-existent Hindu Kurumbar community. It is pertinent to point out that the very same Tahsildar Gudiyatham by his letter dated 17.09.2009 has clearly held that I belong to the Hindu Kurumans Schedule Tribe community. When that is the case, the respondent has not explained as to why the report of the Tahsildar has not been considered.

5.1. For all the above said reasons, we set aside the impugned order and the matter is remitted back to the authority to pass a fresh order in accordance with law. Needless to state that if the petitioner makes a request for supply of the documents relied on by the Revenue Divisional Officer in passing the impugned order, the same should be furnished to the petitioner and the petitioner shall be given an opportunity to rebut the said documents if necessary. It is however, made clear that no reliance should be placed on any certificate whatsoever which refers the name "Kurumbar".

5.2. The authority shall consider any other material that may be furnished by the petitioner on its own merits and in accordance with law. The authority shall decide the matter as expeditiously as possibly preferably within a period of four weeks from the date of receipt of a copy of this order.

This Writ Petition is allowed by way of remand as above. No costs. Consequently, connected miscellaneous petition is closed.