ORDER
P. Lakshmana Reddy, J. (Vice Chairman)
1. Heard the learned Counsel for the applicant and the learned standing counsel for the respondents. The learned standing counsel for the respondents submitted that though he has sent intimation to the respondents to send draft reply, they have not so far sent him any instructions and, therefore, he could not file the reply and he requested for some more time. Learned Counsel for the applicant submitted that this case is covered by the decisions of this Tribunal in T.A. No. 107/1988 (W.P. No. 12245/85 dated 6.3.1989) and OA No. 300/2005 dated 10.11.2006 wherein it was categorically held that the department has got no power to initiate an inquiry to find out whether a particular candidate does not belong to a particular reserved community on the basis of which he got employment and that the only course of action open to the department is to refer the matter to the district magistrate for inquiry and in case the district magistrate gives information that he does not belong to the reserved caste on the basis of which he obtained employment then only the department can initiate disciplinary proceedings and till then the department has no power to initiate an inquiry and that in the instant case, the disciplinary proceedings were initiated as long back as in the year 1999 and report was submitted in the year 2004 and final show cause notice along with the inquiry report was issued to the applicant and the applicant immediately submitted explanation stating that the authorities have no power to initiate disciplinary proceedings and also cited the decisions of this Tribunal and in spite of that so far no final orders have been passed on the inquiry officer’s report but juniors of the applicant have been promoted and the applicant is denied promotion on the ground that the disciplinary proceedings are pending and thus the applicant is suffering lots of injustice and that the respondents have got no case and hence they did not choose to give instructions to the counsel and the application may be disposed of following the earlier orders passed and on the basis of the record available.
2. We have perused the record and found that the facts of the case are exactly similar to the facts of the case in OA No. 300/2005 dated 10.11.2006 except the fact that in the cited case final orders have been passed and the applicant was promoted and the appeal was also dismissed whereas in the instant case, no final orders have been passed since 2004. So, merely because the final orders have not been passed in this case, it cannot be said that the said decision is not applicable to this case. Because in the cited decision of this Tribunal, it is categorically held that the department has got no power to initiate disciplinary proceedings on the ground that a false certificate has been produced to secure employment and it has to be referred to the District Magistrate for determination. In T.A. No. 107/1988 decided on 6.3.1989, it is categorically held that the departmental authorities could not have initiated a departmental disciplinary enquiry for determining whether the applicant belonged to Schedule Caste or not and that the Railway Board gave instructions clearly laying down that where verification of SC or ST certificates or castes are sought to be done, it has to be done through the District Magistrate concerned and the departmental authorities could not have initiated enquiry for determining the caste to which be belongs to. In view of this and the decision of this Tribunal, were of the considered view that this is a covered case and that the disciplinary proceedings pending before the authorities are liable to be quashed, of course, giving liberty to the department to follow the procedure prescribed in the A.P. (SC, ST & BCs) Regulation of Issue of Community Certificates Act, 1993 and Rules, 1997 read with Rule 10 of the said Act and Rules. In the result, the OA is allowed with no order as to costs.