NEW DELHI: An individual's caste is unalterable and can not exchange after marriage, the Supreme Court said on Thursday, environment aside the appointment of a girl teacher who joined Kendriya Vidyalaya 21 years ago taking advantage of reservation on the floor that she used to be married to a Scheduled Caste man.
A bench of Justices Arun Mishra and M M Shantanagoudar said the girl, who has now turn into vice-principal after serving two decades within the school, used to be not entitled to the benefits of reservation as she used to be born in an upper caste family and her caste remained so despite marrying right into a Scheduled Caste family.
"There cannot be any dispute that the caste is determined by birth and the caste cannot be changed by marriage with a person of Scheduled Caste. Undoubtedly, she was born in 'Agarwal' family, which falls in general category and not in Scheduled Caste. Merely because her husband belongs to a Scheduled Caste category, she should not have been issued with a caste certificate showing her caste as Scheduled Caste," the bench said.
The girl used to be issued a caste certificates in 1991 through the district Justice of the Peace of Bulandshahr certifying her as of Scheduled Caste. Based on the instructional qualifications and caste certificates, she used to be appointed as a Post Graduate Teacher in 1993 at Kendriya Vidyalaya at Pathankot in Punjab. During the course of her service, she finished her M.Ed.
Two decades after her appointment, a criticism used to be filed in opposition to her seeking cancellation of her appointment, alleging she had illegally taken the advantage of reservation with out belonging to Scheduled Caste category. After undertaking an inquiry, authorities cancelled her caste certificates and Kendriya Vidalaya terminated her task in 2015. Challenging KV's decision, she approached the Allahabad HC which disregarded her plea, and upheld her termination. She then approached the apex court docket for reduction.
Taking under consideration her unblemished service of over two decades, the SC modified the HC order and said the order of termination from service will likely be handled because the order of obligatory retirement. "While exercising leniency, we have also kept in mind that she has neither played fraud nor misrepresented before authorities for getting the caste certificate... No questions were raised against her till the complaint ... came to be lodged, even when the authorities had seen the high school certificate, marksheet etc. showing her caste as Agarwal..." the bench said.
A bench of Justices Arun Mishra and M M Shantanagoudar said the girl, who has now turn into vice-principal after serving two decades within the school, used to be not entitled to the benefits of reservation as she used to be born in an upper caste family and her caste remained so despite marrying right into a Scheduled Caste family.
"There cannot be any dispute that the caste is determined by birth and the caste cannot be changed by marriage with a person of Scheduled Caste. Undoubtedly, she was born in 'Agarwal' family, which falls in general category and not in Scheduled Caste. Merely because her husband belongs to a Scheduled Caste category, she should not have been issued with a caste certificate showing her caste as Scheduled Caste," the bench said.
The girl used to be issued a caste certificates in 1991 through the district Justice of the Peace of Bulandshahr certifying her as of Scheduled Caste. Based on the instructional qualifications and caste certificates, she used to be appointed as a Post Graduate Teacher in 1993 at Kendriya Vidyalaya at Pathankot in Punjab. During the course of her service, she finished her M.Ed.
Two decades after her appointment, a criticism used to be filed in opposition to her seeking cancellation of her appointment, alleging she had illegally taken the advantage of reservation with out belonging to Scheduled Caste category. After undertaking an inquiry, authorities cancelled her caste certificates and Kendriya Vidalaya terminated her task in 2015. Challenging KV's decision, she approached the Allahabad HC which disregarded her plea, and upheld her termination. She then approached the apex court docket for reduction.
Taking under consideration her unblemished service of over two decades, the SC modified the HC order and said the order of termination from service will likely be handled because the order of obligatory retirement. "While exercising leniency, we have also kept in mind that she has neither played fraud nor misrepresented before authorities for getting the caste certificate... No questions were raised against her till the complaint ... came to be lodged, even when the authorities had seen the high school certificate, marksheet etc. showing her caste as Agarwal..." the bench said.
Caste decided by birth, can't be changed by marriage: SC
![Caste decided by birth, can't be changed by marriage: SC]()
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January 20, 2018
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