In the High Court of Judicature at Madras Date : 02..04..2008 Coram : The Hon'ble Mr. Justice D. MURUGESAN and The Hon'ble Mr. Justice V. PERIYA KARUPPIAH Writ Petiton No: 48962 of 2006 S. Jayaraj Plot No: 47, Door No: 15, Balakrishnapuram, 4th Street, Chennai 600 088. ... Petitioner -vs- The Tahsildar, Tambaram Taluk, Tambaram, Chennai. ... Respondent .. .. .. Writ petition under Article 226 of the Constitution of India praying for issuance of a writ of certiorarified mandamus calling for the records relating to the impugned order dated 7.6.2006 passed in ref. No: Na.Ka. 3170/2006/A2 on the file of the respondent herein, quash the same and direct the respondent to issue community certificate. For petitioner : Mr. G. Thiyagarajan For respondent : Mr. K. Balasubramanian, Special Govt. Pleader .. .. .. O R D E R
(Order of the Court was made
by D. Murugesan, J.)
The petitioner claims that he is a Hindu by birth and belongs to Adi Dravida caste which is a schedule caste. On the strength of such certificate, he was recruited to serve in Post and Telegraph Department in the year 1975. As he married a christian girl in the year 1977, he converted to christianity to facilitate the marriage. Thereafter, on 22.10.2004,he got himself converted to Buddhism and underwent Dharma Dhiksha at Nagpur. He was issued with a certificate by the Parm Pujya Dr,. Babasahem Ambedkar Smarak Smithi. After conversion to Buddhism, he gave a representation to The Chief Superintendent, Central Telegraph Office, Chennai, to incorporate my conversion to Buddhism in the records. In lieu of his conversion he applied to the Tahsildar, Tambaram Taluk, to issue a community certificate certifying himself to belong to schedule caste as in the meantime, the petitioner had obtained a certificate stating that he belong to Christian A.D. By the impugned order, the said request was rejected solely on the ground that the since the petitioner had converted to Christianityand thereafter converted to Buddhism, he is not entitled to such a certificate.
2. Questioning the order, the present writ petition has been filed. We have heard the learned counsel for the petitioner and the learned Additional Government Pleader. The Government of India, in Ministry of Law and Justice (Legislative Department) notified the assent of President on 03.06.1990 by adding “the Buddhist” also in paragraph 3 of the Constitution (Scheduled Castes) Order (Amendment) Act, 1990, thereby making Buddhist also to be considered as Schedule Caste. The conversion of the petitioner to Buddhism is not in dispute. That being so, he has specifically averred in his affidavit that he got converted himself into Buddhism on 22.10.2004 and also underwent Dharma Dhiksha at Nagpur and he has been issued with a certificate evidencing such conversion. The petitioner has also enclosed the said certificate issued on 22.10.2004 by the Secretary to Parm Pujya Dr,. Babasahem Ambedkar Smarak Smithi.
3. The question is whether the petitioner would loose his status of schedule caste which he belonged originally by the mere fact that he had converted to Christianity and thereafter to Buddhism ? The said question came up for consideration before a Division Bench of this Court in the judgment reported in 2006 (4) M.L.J. 1503 [ R.Shankar vs. Registrar General, High Court, Madras and others]. That was a case where originally, a person belonging to Hindu Adi Dravida and converted himself to Christianity and was again re-converted to Hindusim would retain his original status of Scheduel Caste. Going by the findings given in that judgment, this petitioner who originally belong to Hindu and was issued with a Schedule Caste community certificate, though has lost the status of Schedule Caste by his conversion to Christianity, would recover the said status the moment he re-converts himself to Hinduism.
4. In such an event, the next question would be whether the petitioner who got himself converted to Christianity and subsequently, to Buddhism would regain his original community namely Schedule Caste. As we have already seen, by The Constitution (Scheduled Castes) Orders (Amendment) Act a person belonging to Buddhism was also to be considered as Schedule Caste. This has been quoted with approval by the Division Bench in its judgment passed in W.P. No: 45087 of 2006 made on 23.11.2008. In matters like this, the primary consideration is the original community to which a person belongs. Admittedly, the petitioner belongs to Adi Dravida as his claim has not been disputed even in the impugned order and when he is entitled to regain the same status even after his conversion to Christianity and/or re-conversion to Buddhism, we are at a loss to understand as to why the same benefit cannot be extended to the petitioner when he converted himself to Christianity and thereafter, re-converted himself to Buddhism which is also notified to be a schedule caste. In that view of the matter, the reasonings of the respondent for denying the certificate to the petitioner is unreasonable and unsustainable and it is liable to be dismissed. For the said reason, the impugned order is set aside and the writ petition is allowed. The Tahsildar, Tambaram, is directed to consider the application of the petitioner for grant of S.C. Certificate in the light of the observations made in this order, ofcourse subject to the petitioner producing his original S.C. Community certificate. Such an order shall be passed by the Tahsildar, Tambaram Taluk, within a period of eight weeks from the date of receipt of a copy of this order or production of the same. Connected miscellaneous petition is closed.
gp
To
The Tahsildar,
Tambaram Taluk.