Scheduled Tribes — Konda Kapu — Cancellation of caste certificate — Scope of inquiry — Natural justice — Burden of proof

advocatemmmohan

Scheduled Tribes — Konda Kapu — Cancellation of caste certificate — Scope of inquiry — Natural justice — Burden of proof

A.P. (SCs, STs & BCs) Regulation of Issue of Community Certificates Act, 1993 — Sections 5, 7, 11 & 12 — A.P. (SCs, STs & BCs) Issue of Community, Nativity and Date of Birth Certificates Rules, 1997 — Rules 8 & 9 — Articles 14 and 21 of Constitution of India

1. Presumption of validity of community certificates — Burden on State to disprove
   Once a community certificate is issued by a competent authority, there is a prima facie presumption of its validity, and the burden lies upon the authorities disputing the social status to establish, by cogent and legal evidence, that the holder does not belong to the claimed Scheduled Tribe.
   (Paras 14, 18)

2. District Level Scrutiny Committee report — Non-supply — Violation of natural justice
   Reliance upon a report of the District Level Scrutiny Committee, without furnishing a copy thereof to the affected person and without affording opportunity to rebut the same, amounts to violation of audi alteram partem and vitiates the consequential orders.
   (Paras 14, 19)

3. Inter-caste marriages — Determination of caste of children
   In cases of inter-caste marriage, it is settled that children acquire the social status of the father, and marriage with persons of another community cannot, by itself, be a determinative factor to deny Scheduled Tribe status.
   (Paras 12, 16, 18)

4. Probative value of land records vis-à-vis adjudications under tribal regulations
   Old land records describing caste as Kapu (OC), by themselves, cannot override adjudications under Land Transfer Regulations and proceedings wherein ancestors were declared tribals belonging to Konda Kapu community.
   (Paras 17, 18)

5. Failure of petitioner to adduce evidence — Effect
   Mere non-production of additional documentary evidence by the petitioner during inquiry does not absolve the authorities of their obligation to discharge the burden of disproving Scheduled Tribe status, particularly when prior adjudications and certificates exist in favour of the family.
   (Paras 18, 19)

6. Appellate authority — Mechanical confirmation — Impropriety
   Confirmation of cancellation order by the appellate authority, placing predominant reliance on old land records while ignoring binding adjudications and family caste determinations, is arbitrary and unsustainable.
   (Paras 11, 17, 19)

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ANALYSIS

The dispute arose out of cancellation of the petitioner’s Konda Kapu (Scheduled Tribe) certificate, initially triggered by an allegation received by the University authorities and pursued through the Tribal Welfare Department and the District Level Scrutiny Committee.

Although notices were issued and an inquiry was purportedly conducted, the Court found two foundational defects:

1. Procedural illegality — The report of the District Level Scrutiny Committee, which formed the backbone of the Collector’s decision, was never supplied to the petitioner. The Collector as well as the Government relied upon a document that “has not seen the light of day” insofar as the petitioner was concerned. This directly offended the principles of natural justice under Section 5 of the Act, 1993 and Rules 8 and 9 of the Rules, 1997.

2. Substantive misdirection — The authorities attached greater probative value to land records of 1938 showing “Kapu (OC)” while ignoring binding determinations under Land Transfer Regulations (LTRP Nos.43 of 1966, 30 of 1971 and 250 of 2004), where the petitioner’s paternal grandmother and father were declared tribals belonging to Konda Kapu community.

The Court reiterated settled law that children acquire the caste of the father and that inter-caste marriages cannot be used as a disqualifying criterion. Further, it emphasized that the burden of proof lies squarely on the State, and failure of the petitioner to produce further evidence cannot justify cancellation when substantial prior material exists in his favour.

The appellate authority’s approach was found to be mechanical, arbitrary, and legally untenable, as it failed to reconcile earlier tribal adjudications with the impugned conclusions.

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RATIO DECIDENDI

Cancellation of a Scheduled Tribe community certificate is vitiated when based on a District Level Scrutiny Committee report not furnished to the affected person, and when the authorities fail to discharge the burden of disproving tribal status, particularly in the face of prior adjudications declaring the petitioner’s ancestors as tribals; inter-caste marriage and selective reliance on old land records cannot, by themselves, negate Scheduled Tribe status, and children inherit the social status of the father.