Justice Harisankar V. Menon made the observation while considering a writ petition filed by a person who sought appointment to the post of farm employee under the 'Inter-Caste Marriage' reservation category.

The petitioner was required to produce documents in support of the claim for reservation within a prescribed period.

The petitioner submitted the inter-caste marriage certificate dated 2007 issued by the Tahsildar, Vaikom. The Principal Agricultural Officer, who is the employer however insisted on producing a latest certificate and pursuant to this, an application was presented before the Tahsildar seeking issuance of inter-caste marriage certificate.

Even though the application was rejected by the Tahsildar initially stating that since the petitioner and her husband belong to two different religions, the same cannot be considered to be an “inter caste marriage”. Later, the Tahsildar issued a certificate stating that the petitioner's husband belongs to Hindu religion and the petitioner belongs to Christian religion.

The newly issued certificate was not accepted by the employer and hence, the petitioner approached the High Court.

In 2022, the Court had directed the employer to accept the certificate provisionally and allow the petitioner to take charge subject to the result of writ petition. The petitioner had taken charge but had not yet been regularised in the post.

The respondents contended that the certificates submitted before the appointing authority only shows that the petitioner is an “inter-caste married person”, which is not acceptable for extending an appointment.

Reliance was also placed on Clause 246 of the Village Officer Manual, as per which only an “inter-caste marriage certificate” could be issued. It was further submitted that under Clause 246, a marriage between persons of two different religions is not entitled to seek an inter-caste marriage certificate.

The Court, at this juncture observed that since the petitioner's appointment is under the category “Inter Caste Marriage”, the benefits of the same must be extended to inter-religion marriage as well.

“In my opinion, as already noticed, since the petitioner's appointment is under the category of “മിശ്ര വിവാഹിത”(Inter-Faith Marriage), the benefits thereunder require to be extended on the basis of Exts.P5(inter-caste marriage certificate) as well as P8 (inter-caste marriage certificate) since those certificates certify that the petitioner belongs to the Christian religion and her husband belongs to the Hindu religion. In the opinion of this Court, an inter-religion marriage also requires to be taken note of while considering the entitlement pursuant to the benefits considered and extended pursuant to Ext.P4 order.(appointment letter)” Court observed.

The Court thus disposed of the petition, directing the Senior Agricultural Officer to regularise the appointment of the petitioner.

Case Title: Jisha Thomas v State of Kerala and Ors.

Case No: WP(C) 36236/ 2022

Citation: 2026 LiveLaw (Ker) 522

Counsel for Petitioner: Danish John

Counsel for Respondents: Mintu Cherian (GP)