New Delhi, Jun 22 (PTI) In a relief to Lok Sabha MP Navneet Kaur Rana, the Supreme Court Tuesday stayed the Bombay High Court verdict cancelling the caste certificate of the independent lawmaker representing Maharashtra's Amravati constituency, reserved for scheduled castes.

The Bombay High Court on June 9 had cancelled the caste certificate of Rana, saying it was obtained fraudulently using fabricated documents, and had also imposed a fine of Rs two lakh on her.

Rana, backed by Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), had won from Amravati constituency reserved for Scheduled Castes (SC) in the state in 2019 by claiming to be a member of 'Mochi' scheduled caste.

The high court verdict, if not stayed, would have made Rana's continuance as the Scheduled Castes lawmaker legally untenable.

A vacation bench of justices Vineet Saran and Dinesh Maheshwari took note of the submissions of senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi, appearing for the lawmaker, and issued notices to respondents including the state government, its District Caste Scrutiny Committee and social worker Anandra Vithoba Adsul who had challenged the veracity of the caste certificate of the MP.

“Issue notice. Notice is accepted by the counsel appearing for Respondent No. 3 – Anandra Vithoba Adsul. Steps to serve the other respondents be taken within a week. List on July 27.

“In the meantime, pleadings between the parties may be exchanged. Considering the facts and circumstances of the case, it is directed that the operation of the impugned Judgment dated June 08, shall remain stayed. It is understood that on the next date of hearing, the matter itself may be heard finally,” the bench said in its order.

The apex court, which at the outset, proposed to issue notice on Rana's appeal and stay the high court's judgement, took note of vehement submission of senior advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for Adsul, that the verdict be not stayed without hearing him.

“I have a lot more to say,” Sibal said and referred to various documents to show that the high court rightly cancelled the caste certificate.

“So do I”, Rohatgi said and referred to the fact that the membership to the Lok Sabha is sought to be annulled without filling the election petition.

During the hearing, Rohatgi submitted that the terms 'Mochi' and 'Chamaar' are synonymous.

The scrutiny committee had decided her caste status based on original records produced before it and there is a presumption that documents over 30 years old are correct, he said, adding the genuineness of the documents were not contested.

“However, the High Court reversed the scrutiny committee's decision while hearing a petition under Article 226 (writ petition),” the senior lawyer for Rana said, adding that the high court decision was erroneous as it entered into factual determination in a writ petition.

Senior Advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for Adsul who had challenged the veracity of caste certificate of the lawmaker, said the vigilance committee had found that many documents were forged.

A division bench high court, in its judgement, had asked Rana to surrender the certificate within six weeks and had asked her to pay a penalty of Rs two lakh to the Maharashtra Legal Services Authority within two weeks.

The high court had held that Rana's claim of belonging to 'Mochi' caste for obtaining the Scheduled Caste certificate itself was fraudulent and made with the intention of obtaining various benefits available to a candidate from such category, despite knowing she does not belong to that caste.

“The application (for caste certificate) was made intentionally to make a fraudulent claim to enable the respondent no.3 (Rana) to contest the election for the post of member of parliament on a seat reserved for a Scheduled Castes candidate,” the high court had said in its judgement.

“In our view, since respondent no.3 has obtained the caste certificate fraudulently and got it validated fraudulently from the Caste Scrutiny Committee by producing fabricated and fraudulent documents, such caste certificate is cancelled and stands confiscated,” the high court had said.

The high court in its judgement had also noted the “abysmal” functioning of the scrutiny committee.

The high court had passed its order on the plea seeking cancellation of the caste certificate dated August 30, 2013, issued by Mumbai deputy collector, identifying Rana as belonging to the 'Mochi' caste.

Adsule had filed a complaint with the Mumbai District Caste Certificate Scrutiny Committee, which ruled in Rana's favour and validated the certificate. He then approached the high court.

He had contended that Rana obtained the certificate using forged and fabricated documents.

It was obtained by using the influence of Navneet Rana's husband Ravi Rana, who was a member of the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly, he alleged.

The high court had held that the order passed by the Scrutiny Committee was “totally perverse, without the application of mind and contrary to the evidence on record”.

The bench had noted that the original birth certificate of Navneet Rana did not mention the caste 'Mochi'.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)