EMPLOYER CANNOT VERIFY EMPLOYEE'S CASTE STATUS, SAYS KARNATAKA HIGH COURT, SUCH POWERS ONLY RESTS WITH DISTRICT CASTE VERIFICATION COMMITTEE

Karnatka High Court has ruled that Employer can not verify employee's status and such powers rest only with the district caste verification committee. Justic M Nagaprasanna of the HC Dharwad bench delivered the ruling in a case filed by Raju, a fire station officer appointed under OBC -1 category. His caste, Talawar, was reclassified under Scheduled Tribe after an amendment in March, 2020 . Consequently, state Government, by order dated October 29 , 2022 , removed Talawar caste from the OBC list and Raju was granted promotion as he belonged to a Scheduled Tribe community. The regional fire officer, on January 29 , issued a notice to Raju, summoning him for an enquiry into his appointment under the OBC reservation. Raju Challenged the notice, arguing his employer has no jurisdiction to enquire about his caste status. Justice Nagaprasanna said fire department was not empowered to probe into the caste status of any employee under Karnatka SCs, STs and OBCs (Reservations of appointments etc) Act, 1990.Only the district caste verification committee can determine the caste status as it is the settled principle of law laid down by a plethora of judgements, HC said while allowing the petition:-- Er Fateh chand Guleria, Director, RTI welfare Association registered number HPCD, 3552 , Bilaspur Himachal Pradesh phone number, 9459334377