OBC Certificate Issued In Delhi Can't Be Treated As 'Migrant' Because It's Based On Father's Caste Certificate From Another State: High Court

A division bench of Justices C. Hari Shankar and Ajay Digpaul observed,

“The certificate has to be read as it is. It does not purport to have been issued to the respondent merely because she is a migrant. It clearly states that “Nisha, Resident of (address redacted) Delhi belongs to the community JAT which is recognized as Other Backward Class...The mere fact that it has been issued on the basis of the OBC certificate issued to the respondent's father in UP does not deviate from the earlier recitals in the Certificate.”

Delhi government had challenged CAT order allowing Respondent-Nisha's plea seeking benefit of OBC reservation for recruitment to various posts in the GNCTD.

DSSSB had contended that as the OBC certificate issued to her had been issued on the basis of an OBC certificate issued to her father by the UP government, the respondent could not be given the benefit of OBC reservation in Delhi and was treated as an Unreserved candidate.

The High Court noted that the OBC Certificate issued to the respondent does not say that it was issued 'as a migrant'.

“We are unwilling to read, into the Certificate, something which finds no place therein,” the bench remarked.

In any event, the Court added that DSSSB ought to have issued a notice to the Respondent if they were of the view that she was not eligible for reservation because her certificate had been issued as a migrant.

“The rejection of the respondent's request for being treated as an OBC applicant is not because of any defect in the OBC certificate produced by her, vis-à-vis any stipulation to be found in the Advertisement itself. The petitioners are seeking to justify the rejection on considerations outside the Advertisement; in fact, by reading, into the OBC certificate, stipulations not to be found therein. This could not have been done without seeking an explanation from the respondent in that regard,” it observed.

It added that the OBC certificate issued to the respondent was not issued by the Revenue authorities in UP but by the Revenue authorities in Delhi, and entirely fulfilled the stipulations contained in the Recruitment Advertisement.

As such, the Court held there is no reason for the respondent not to be entitled to the benefit of OBC reservation, and dismissed the State's plea.

Appearance: Mrs. Avnish Ahlawat, SC with Mr. Nitesh Kumar Singh, Ms. Laavanya Kaushik, Mr. Mohnish Sehrawat and Ms. Aliza Alam, Advs for GNCTD; Mr. M.K. Bhardwaj, Ms. Priyanka M. Bhardwaj and Mr. Maria Mugesh Kannan, Advs. for Respondent

Case title: GNCTD v. Nisha

Case no.: W.P.(C) 373/2024

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