Self-Immolation Over Denial Of Community Certificate: Madras High Court Directs Revenue Divisional Officer To Conduct Field Enquiry

The Madras High Court has directed the concerned Revenue Divisional Officer to conduct a field inquiry and determine the community status of Velmurugan, the man who set himself ablaze inside the court premises earlier this week over denial of community certificate to his son.The bench of Acting Chief Justice T Raja and Justice D Krishnakumar was hearing the suo moto case registered after Justice SM Subramaniam, before whom the matter was first mentioned, was of the prima facie view that deceased's son was deprived of his Community Certificate even after repeatedly making submissions before the Revenue Authorities.Velmurugan's son had claimed Narikuravan community certificate.Additional Advocate General J Ravindran submitted that there was no delay on the part of the authorities in handling the matter and denied that the deceased was made to run from pillar to post. In fact, he submitted that the rejection order was sent online itself.He submitted that Velmurugan's son had annexed the community certificate of his paternal uncle, Elangovan to substantiate his claim. However, there was a mismatch in father's name of Velmurugan and the said Elangovan. "If they were indeed brothers, they should have had the same father. So the application was rejected," AAG said.The court, however, was not inclined to accept this submission.Generally, if a person comes to you for certificate, do you sit on your chair and play this guess game? Or do you do an inspection?, ACJ T Raja asked the authorities.The court observed that the RDO should have conducted a proper field enquiry to verify the community status of the children of the deceased.Field inspection means somebody living on that same village, same street, at least one person should have been spoken to. We are giving you two weeks. Go to the village, visit the boy's school. Get all details. We want a proper inquiry. Else this plea won't serve any purpose.The court thus directed the RDO to submit a detailed inspection report within two weeks.Case Title: Suo Motu v. State of Tamil Nadu and othersCase No: WP No. 27655 2022

Self-Immolation Over Denial Of Community Certificate: Madras High Court Directs Revenue Divisional Officer To Conduct Field Enquiry

Upasana Sajeev

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