SC/ST caste validity applications must be referred to the District Social Welfare Officer for verification.

The petitioner obtained a caste certificate in 2009 identifying him as belonging to the Bhovi Scheduled Caste and was appointed as a Postal Assistant in 2011 on that basis

In 2023, the Superintendent of Post Offices sought verification of the certificate.

The District Caste Verification Committee referred the matter to the Assistant Director of the Social Welfare Department, Mundgod, for enquiry and later declined to issue a validity certificate

The petitioner challenged that order, contending that Rule 6-A required referral to the District Social Welfare Officer, not the Assistant Director

1. Whether the Committee’s referral to the Assistant Director of the Social Welfare Department, rather than the District Social Welfare Officer, complied with Rule 6-A of the Rules

2. Whether the order declining a validity certificate should be quashed and the matter remitted for reconsideration in accordance with Rule 6-A

Rule 6-A of the Karnataka Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and Other Backward Classes (Reservation of Appointment, etc.) Rules, 1992 requires the Caste Verification Committee, in cases concerning Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, to refer an application for a validity certificate to the concerned District Social Welfare Officer for verification and a report after local enquiry

The Court held that this prescribed officer is the competent authority to undertake that verification

No precedent was relied upon.

The Committee obtained its enquiry report from the Assistant Director rather than the District Social Welfare Officer.

The respondent-authority’s counsel acknowledged that this appeared to breach the mandatory procedure under Rule 6-A

Because the required referral had not been made, the Committee’s decision was procedurally defective; the Court therefore set it aside without determining the petitioner’s entitlement to a validity certificate

It remitted the matter to the Committee to proceed in strict compliance with Rule 6-A, give the petitioner an opportunity to present his case, and pass an appropriate order within six months of receiving the certified copy of the judgment.

The Superintendent of Post Offices may participate in the proceedings