Safiya Malik

The Bombay High Court has dismissed a petition seeking the issuance of a caste certificate based on the caste of the petitioner’s mother, ruling that the claim lacked legal basis and appeared to be a self-serving attempt to gain reservation benefits. The court noted that the petitioner had been raised in her father’s household, received an education in reputed institutions, and had consistently identified as belonging to her father’s caste in official records. It further observed that there was no evidence of separation between the petitioner’s parents that would justify a deviation from the general presumption that a child follows the caste of the father.

The petition was filed by Swanubhuti Jeevraj Jain, seeking directions to the State of Maharashtra and other authorities to issue a caste certificate based on her mother’s caste. The petitioner also sought amendments to Form-1 of the relevant caste certificate rules and modifications to the Aaple Sarkar online portal to allow applicants to apply for caste certificates based on their mother’s caste. Additionally, she challenged the rejection of her application by the authorities and claimed that the decision violated Articles 14, 15, and 25 of the Constitution of India.

The petitioner, a 30-year-old woman, contended that while her father belonged to the Jain community, which falls in the open category, her mother belonged to the Shimpi community, categorized as Other Backward Class (OBC). She argued that she had been raised in her mother’s village and had been socially and culturally influenced by her mother’s community. The petitioner stated that her father did not believe in the caste system and had actively participated in social movements promoting caste neutrality.

The court noted that the petitioner had attempted to apply for a caste certificate through the State Government’s Aaple Sarkar portal but was unable to proceed because the system required caste details based on the father’s identity. She, therefore, sought judicial intervention to obtain a caste certificate based on her mother’s caste and to reform the online system to allow applicants to choose their mother’s caste for official documentation.

The State opposed the petition, arguing that caste certificates are issued based on statutory provisions that presume a child follows the caste of the father unless exceptional circumstances exist. The State contended that the petitioner had lived with both her parents in Pune, studied in reputable institutions, and had repeatedly declared her father’s caste in various official documents. It was also submitted that the petitioner’s mother had obtained an OBC caste certificate only in April 2022 and that the petitioner applied for her own caste certificate shortly thereafter, suggesting an attempt to claim reservation benefits rather than a genuine social identity.

The court reviewed judicial precedents, including Rameshbhai Dabhai Naika v. State of Gujarat & Ors. and Valsamma Paul v. Cochin University, which establish that a child can claim caste status from the mother only in cases where the child has been raised entirely by the mother without any association with the father’s social identity. It recorded that "if there are sufficient circumstances indicating that the child was completely away from the father and was neither influenced nor nurtured by him and constantly lived with the mother, who was the only person to have brought her up, she can claim the certificate on the basis of her mother’s caste/tribe, if the mother belongs to a backward community."

The court, however, found that in this case, there was no evidence that the petitioner had been raised separately from her father. It noted that her educational records, official documents, and residential address all indicated that she had been living with her father throughout her upbringing. The judgment recorded that "the entire nurturing and upbringing must have been done by the mother without any participation of the father. Each case has to be decided on the basis of the facts emerging from the records."

Addressing the petitioner’s request to amend the Aaple Sarkar portal to include caste details of the mother, the court directed the State Government to consider whether an exception could be introduced in cases where a child is exclusively raised by the mother. It stated that "since it involves a decision to be taken by the Government, it would be appropriate for the Government to constitute a proper committee which is assisted with data/information, so as to consider, whether a clause in exceptional circumstances, can be entered in the Aaple Sarkar portal to enable an applicant to tender the details of the mother’s social status."

The court ultimately dismissed the petition, concluding that the petitioner had failed to demonstrate that she was solely brought up by her mother or that she faced any social disadvantages warranting caste-based reservation benefits. It stated that "this petition has been filed for self-serving purposes. We also sense that an attempt to misrepresent has been made. However, we wish to give a ‘quietus’ to this issue."

Case Title: Swanubhuti Jeevraj Jain v. State of Maharashtra & Ors.
Case Number: Writ Petition No. 9195 of 2024
Bench: Justice Ravindra V. Ghuge and Justice Ashwin D. Bhobe

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