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State of Odisha v. Bibhisan Kanhar

Civil Appeal · 2017 INSC 632Decided 17 Jul 2017
Civil Appeal No. 9124 of 2017
Justice S.A. Bobde · Justice L. Nageswara Rao

Background

The respondent was appointed as a "Farash" (an attendant-level post) in a Revenue Divisional Commissioner's office in Odisha after being sponsored by the Employment Exchange as a Scheduled Tribe ("Kandha") candidate. A later scrutiny found his real caste was "Pano" (a Scheduled Caste, not a Scheduled Tribe), and the State Level Scrutiny Committee cancelled his caste certificate and recommended his removal, which the government carried out. The respondent challenged his removal, and both the Central Administrative Tribunal and the Orissa High Court ordered his reinstatement, reasoning that since the post he actually held was not reserved for Scheduled Tribes, the false certificate hadn't caused any real harm.

Decision Breakdown

The Supreme Court disagreed and reversed the Tribunal and High Court, holding that the respondent would never even have been sponsored or considered for the job in the first place without producing the (false) Scheduled Tribe certificate, so the fact that the specific post wasn't formally reserved for STs was irrelevant to whether fraud had occurred. The Court noted the caste-cancellation order had already become final and unchallenged, and relied on the long-standing principle (quoting Lord Denning) that "fraud unravels everything" and no one may keep an advantage obtained through fraud. The appeal was allowed, the Tribunal's and High Court's judgments were set aside, and no costs were awarded.

Lesson Learnt

A government employee who obtains a job by using a false caste or community certificate can be lawfully removed from service once the fraud is established: it does not matter that the specific post was not formally reserved for that community, because the certificate still gave the person an unfair edge in being considered at all.

Official source (sci.gov.in)View Judgment (PDF)

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