Abhishek Raj v. The State Of Bihar

IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT PATNA

Civil Writ Jurisdiction Case No.15993 of 2025 ====================================================== Abhishek Raj Son of Dina Nath Prasad Resident of Mohalla- Ward no.- 09, Chhawahi Khas, P.S- Majhagarh, District- Gopalganj. ... ... Petitioner/s

Versus

1.

The State of Bihar through the Sub Divisional Officer, Gopalganj 2.

The Circle Officer Majha, District- Gopalganj 3.

The District Magistrate, Gopalganj.

... ... Respondent/s ====================================================== Appearance :

For the Petitioner/s :

Mr. Sunil Kumar Singh, Adv.

For the Respondent/s :

Mr. Government Pleader (22) :

Mr. Narendra Kumar Singh, Ac to Gp22 ====================================================== CORAM: HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE ANIL KUMAR SINHA ORAL ORDER 31-01-2026

1. The petitioner has filed the present writ application for quashing the order dated 04.05.2022 passed by S.D.O., Majha, Gopalganj, by which application for grant of ST caste certificate of the petitioner has been rejected.

2. Mr. Sameer Kumar, learned counsel appearing for the petitioner, argued that petitioner belongs to the Kharwar Community which is a Schedule Tribe (ST) community and applied for grant of ST certificate before the competent authority, i.e., Circle Officer, Majha, on 17.02.2022. The Circle Officer, Majha, rejected the request of the petitioner for grant of certificate on the ground that in the survey khatian, the caste of the petitioner has been mentioned as Kamkar, and since the basis of issuance of caste certificate is the khatian as such, petitioner is not entitled for caste certificate of ST category as per his claim that he belongs to the Kharwar Community on the basis of the report submitted by the Circle Officer to the S.D.O..

Patna High Court CWJC No.15993 of 2025(2) dt.31-01-2026 2/2 The S.D.O., Gopalganj, refused to issue the caste certificate of ST category in favor of the petitioner.

3. Learned counsel for the State, on the other hand, argued that the District-level Caste Scrutiny Committee has been constituted headed by the District Magistrate, accordingly, the claim of the petitioner may be referred to the District-level Caste Scrutiny Committee which shall consider the claim of the petitioner and pass a reasoned and speaking order.

4. Considering the submissions made by the parties, this writ application is disposed with liberty to the petitioner to file a detailed petition before the District-level Caste Scrutiny Committee headed by District Magistrate, Gopalganj, within a period of 3 weeks. If such a petition is filed before the Districtlevel Caste Scrutiny Committee, the committee is directed to dispose the same in accordance with law within a period of two months from the date of filing of the petition.

5. With the aforesaid direction and observation, the present writ application is disposed.

(Anil Kumar Sinha, J) HarshPandey/- U