Karnataka HC rules in favour of Considering Parent’s Caste Certificate for Govt Job

Karnataka (India), Feb. 5, 2023: Karnataka High Court through its ruling has directed organisations to Consider Caste Certificate of Parents and Not Husband for Government Job Applications.

The Karnataka High Court on Monday issued a ruling that when determining the caste of married women who have applied for government jobs, the caste certificate of the applicant’s parents has to be considered and not that of the husband.

Justice M. Nagaprasanna was surprised that the state was repeatedly relying on an unsustainable government order (GO) in this regard. He held that the action of the selecting authority in interpreting and holding that the caste and income of the husband is to be taken into consideration is contrary to law.

The Court was hearing a batch of pleas by applicants to the post of primary school teachers challenging the state government’s action of treating them as falling under the general category without taking into account the caste certificates of their parents.

Senior Advocate K Shashikiran Shetty urged that the State was repeating the mistake though earlier benches had ruled against the same.

Advocate General Prabhuling K Navadgi, on the other hand, defended the state’s action and stated that the petitioners had an alternate remedy before the Karnataka State Administrative Tribunal under Section 19 of the Administrative Tribunals Act.

Relying on the judgment in Surinder Singh, the Court rejected the submission of the Advocate General that it was the caste and income certificate of the spouse that had to be taken into account. The court said that the Supreme Court has made it clear that the caste certificate of the parents needs to be considered.

The Court allowed the petitions and directed that the petitioners be treated as belonging to the categories mentioned in the caste certificate of their parents. It also quashed the selection list, which treated them as general category candidates.