Calcutta High Court Directs SDO To Cancel Gram Panchayat Pradhan's Reservation Certificate Over False OBC Claim

The Calcutta High Court has held that once a competent authority concludes that a person does not belong to the Other Backward Classes (OBC) category, it is incumbent upon the authority to immediately proceed with the cancellation of the OBC certificate. The Court directed the Sub-Divisional Officer (SDO), Tamluk, to cancel the OBC certificate of an elected Gram Panchayat Pradhan within one week.Justice Krishna Rao was hearing two connected writ petitions — WPA No. 21813 of 2025 filed by Ranajit Rakshit seeking cancellation of the OBC certificate of the private respondent, and WPA No. 20033 of 2025 filed by Khukurani Mondal Ghorai challenging the SDO's order holding that she did not belong to the OBC community.The dispute arose out of the 2023 Panchayat elections in Iswarpur No. 5 Gram Panchayat under Chandipur Block, Purba Medinipur. The post of Pradhan was reserved for OBC candidates. Khukurani Mondal Ghorai, who contested under the banner of Trinamool Congress, was elected as Pradhan. Her rival candidate, Ranajit Rakshit of the BJP, later alleged that she had fraudulently obtained an OBC certificate and was not in fact a member of the OBC (Tanti/Tantubaya) community.Earlier, a Coordinate Bench of the High Court had directed the SDO to conduct a re-enquiry into the social status of the private respondent and pass a reasoned order. Pursuant to that direction, the SDO constituted a committee comprising the Block Development Officer, Joint BDO and Inspector (BCW), who conducted a field enquiry.The enquiry report revealed that although the OBC certificate issued in 2013 was genuine in terms of issuance, the certificate holder failed to produce any supporting documents establishing her caste as OBC (Tanti/Tantubaya). The field enquiry suggested that the family and locality predominantly belonged to the Mahishya community, and that rituals, gotra (Sandilya), and social practices were consistent with the Mahishya sub-caste. In the absence of documentary proof substantiating her OBC claim, the committee concluded that she did not belong to the OBC community.After granting hearing to the parties, the SDO, by order dated 23 July 2025, held that Khukurani Mondal Ghorai did not belong to the OBC community (Tanti/Tantubaya). However, no consequential order cancelling the certificate was passed.Before the High Court, senior counsel appearing for the petitioner argued that once the SDO had reached a categorical finding that the private respondent did not belong to the OBC category, immediate remedial steps including cancellation of the certificate were mandatory. Reliance was placed on the Division Bench judgment in Biswajit Das v. State of West Bengal to contend that obtaining a false caste certificate amounts to fraud and calls for immediate corrective action to prevent subversion of the constitutional scheme of reservation.On the other hand, counsel for the private respondent argued that the SDO lacked jurisdiction to cancel the certificate and that under the statutory framework, such matters fall within the domain of the Scrutiny Committee. Reliance was placed on Darvell Investment and Leasing (I) Pvt. Ltd. v. State of West Bengal to argue that cancellation must adhere to the prescribed guidelines and statutory mechanism.The Court examined the statutory provisions of the West Bengal Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Identification) Act, 1994 and the 1995 Rules, along with the judgments in Darvell Investment and Biswajit Das. Referring extensively to the reasoning in Biswajit Das, the Court observed that Section 9(1) of the 1994 Act read with Rule 3 of the 1995 Rules empowers the certificate issuing authority to initiate proceedings for cancellation upon prima facie satisfaction that the certificate was obtained by misrepresentation, suppression of material facts or production of forged documents.The Court noted that the SDO had conducted a detailed enquiry pursuant to judicial directions, constituted a committee, provided opportunity of hearing, and passed a reasoned order. The private respondent neither objected to the constitution of the committee nor challenged the enquiry report. The plea regarding loss of documents due to cyclone or during travel was unsupported by any specific description of such documents.Justice Krishna Rao held that there was no illegality in the SDO's finding that the private respondent did not belong to the OBC community. However, the Court found fault with the inaction in not formally cancelling the certificate after recording such a finding.The Court observed that once the competent authority arrives at a conclusion that the certificate holder does not belong to the claimed reserved category, the authority “ought to have passed an order of cancellation of the OBC Certificate” and cannot permit continuation in a post reserved for that category.Accordingly, the Court directed the SDO, Tamluk, to take immediate steps for cancellation of the OBC certificate of Khukurani Mondal Ghorai...

Calcutta High Court Directs SDO To Cancel Gram Panchayat Pradhan's Reservation Certificate Over False OBC Claim

Srinjoy Das

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