Holding

The appeal is dismissed; the appellant failed to establish his Scheduled Tribe status and the courts cannot act as appellate bodies to re‑evaluate the factual findings of the competent authority.

Summary

The appellant claimed Scheduled Tribe (Konda Reddy) status to obtain reservation benefits in the Central Civil Services Examination, but the Union Public Service Commission doubted his claim and ordered an enquiry. Multiple authorities—including the Deputy Tehsildar, Tehsildar, R.D.O., and the District Collector—examined the evidence, found the social status certificate to be unauthorised, and concluded that the appellant did not belong to the Konda Reddy tribe. The High Court, after several writ petitions, upheld the Collector’s detailed enquiry, noting that the appellant failed to produce any credible proof of tribal customs and that the school records showing "Konda" were later interpolations without proper attestation. The Supreme Court, hearing the appeal by special leave, held that the factual findings of the Collector and the High Court were reasonable and that Article 226 does not confer appellate jurisdiction to re‑appreciate such findings. Consequently, the appeal was dismissed, confirming that the appellant had not established his Scheduled Tribe status.

Issues considered

Whether the appellant satisfactorily proved his belonging to the Konda Reddy Scheduled Tribe.
Whether the Supreme Court can interfere with the factual findings of the Collector and the High Court under Article 226.
Whether documentary evidence such as altered school records can establish Scheduled Tribe status.

Legislation cited

Constitution of Indias. Article 14, s. Article 15, s. Article 16, s. Article 226, s. Article 341, s. Article 342

Subjects

Scheduled Tribesocial status certificatereservationArticle 226fact‑finding authoritydocumentary evidenceinterpolationcaste

Judgment

A S. NAGARAJAN -r
v.
THE DISTRICT COLLECTOR, SALEM AND ORS.

JANUARY 13, 1997

B [K. RAMASWAMY AND G.T. NANAVATI, JJ.)

Constitution of /11dia, 1950: Articles 14, 15, 16, 226, 341 and 342:

Scheduled Tribe-Social Status Certificate-False claim-Appella11t ap-
peared in Central Civil Services Exami11atio1t-His claim for status of
c Schedule Tribe (Konda Reddy) doubted by UPSC-E11quby--Collector hold-
i11g a detailed enquiry and holding that the appellant did 11ot belong to
Schedule Tribe Commu11ity-Appella11t unable to give a11y proof in support •
of his claim that he belongs to Schedule Tribe Co111munity-Ca11cellation of
Certificate gra11ted-Cl1allenge-High Court found that the father of appellant
D who was i11 Government service had 11ot claimed his status to be a member ~-
of Scheduled Tribe- !11terpolation in school record-High Court affimied the
conclusio11 of Collector-Appeal-Held the High Court was correct in accept-
i11g the conclusion reached by the Collector that the appellant had not
established his status as Scheduled Tribe-The documentary evidence was
E brought 011 record to prop up the retrograde status of Scf1~m1fed Tribe to
snatch the constitutional benefits given to the Scheduled Tribes.

Madhuri Patil v. Additional Commissioner Tribal Development, AIR

F
1995 SC 94, cited.

1997.
CIVIL APPELLATE JURISDICTION : Civil Appeal No. 236 of --
~
i

From the Judgment and Order dated 19.8.96 of the Madras High
Court in W.A. No. 166 of 1996.

G C.S. Vaidyanathan, K.V. Vishwanathan and K.V. Venkataraman for
the Appellant.

The following Order of the Court was delivered : ~

:Leave granted. This appeal by special leave arises from the judgment
H of the Division Bench of the Madras High Court, made on August 19, 19%
220
S. NAGARAJAN v. DISTRICT COLLECTOR 221

-~
in Writ Appeal No. 16~ of 1996. A

The appellant claimed his status as Scheduled Tribe (Konda Reddy)
and had appeared in Central Civil Services Examination held in 1985. His
status was doubted by the Union Public Service Commission and an
enquiry was directed to be made. During enquiry, the Tehsildar found that B
the certificate of social status given. .by the Deputy Tehsildar was not
correct and was .without jurisdietion aild accordingly. cancelled the said
certificate. The appellant filed a writ petition and the High Court directed
fresh enquiry in that behalf after giving notice to the appellant. After giving
notice, the Tehsildar cancell~d the certificate given to the appellant. which
was again challenged by way of another writ petition. The High Court again C
directed that the matter be enquired by the R.D.O. The R.D.O. also found
the appellant to be not a Scheduled Tribe. The appellant made third
attempt by filing writ petition in the High Court. The High Court direded
the Collector to personally enquire into the matter after giving reasonable
opportunity to the appellant and to pass a speaking order. Thereafter, the D
Collector made a detailed enquiry and held that the appellant did not
belong to the Scheduled Tribe community. Calling that action in question,
the appellant filed writ petition. Learned Single· Judge by order dated
December 13, 1995 upheld the order of the District Collector with the
finding that the appellant was given opportunity to prove his tribal traits
and also that the appellant was unable to give any proof in support of his · E
claim that he belongs to Scheduled Tribe community and as such the
certificate granted by the Deputy Tehsildar was rightly cancelled as the
same was without jurisdiction. It was also found that the persons who had
stated earlier in favour of the appellant as to his community and status at
the behest of the appellant's father who retired as Commissioner, resiled F
thereafter. Therefore, their statements that the appellant was a member of
the Scheduled Tribes could not be relied upon. Learned Judge has also
accepted the reasoning of the Collector that the father of the appellant who
was in Government service had not claimed his status to be a member of
Scheduled Tribe. Had he been a member of Scheduled Tribe community, ·
it was un:ikely that he would have omitted to claim his said status. In the · G
school certificate of the appellant, his caste was originally noted as Hindu
Reddiar and subsequently the word "Konda" had been added. Equally, in
entry in the school admission register, the caste as originally noted was
"Hindu Reddi" and the word 'Konda' was added subsequently, that too in
different ink. In other words, he is a member of forward caste and there H
222 SUPREME COURT REPORTS (1997) 1 S.C.R.

A is no signature on the correction of word 'Konda' by the concerned ~
Headmaster. Thus, it appears to have been so made as to be consistent
with the interpolation made in the school certificate of the appellant.
Having regard to these facts the learned Single Judge has held thus :

"13. The fact that the petitioner's father subsequently claimed to
B be a Joint Secretary of the Madurai Unit of the State Kanda Reddy
Association and the President of that Association claimed to be a
grand uncle of the petitioner does not help the petitioner to
establish his claim that he is a kondareddi.

c 14. The petitioner was required to establish before the Collec-
tor that he belonged to kondareddi community. No attempt was
made to establish that the customs and practice followed by the
petitioner and his family are those of the tribal group of kondared-
di. What was sought to be established by the petitioner was that
in' certain documents such as school admission register and sale
D de~d~, the caste of the petitioner of his relatives was mentioned as
kondareddi. Such description of the petitioner's caste after the ,
pditioner's father had become aware of the benefit available to
the kondareddi, even though he himself at no point of time claimed
to have belonged to the scheduled tribe, and claimed the benefits
E available to those belonging to that tribe, cannot from a reliable
basis for holding that the petitioner is a kondareddi. His member-
ship of. tribe
I
has to be established with reference not merely to
the documents wherein he or his relatives are described as kon-
dareddi, but by establishing the customs habits or anthropological
date concerning the family from which one could reasonably con-
F clude that the petitioner belongs to the tribe of kondareddi. No
such evidence was produced by the petition~r".

It would thus be seen that the documentary evidence was brought on
record to prop up the retrograde status of Scheduled Tribe to snatch the
G constitutional benefits given to the Scheduled Tribes.

The Division Bench after considering these facts has held thus :

11
• About the documentary proof let in by the petitioner, the
••••••

father's case is the proper proof to know the caste of his son. In
H the school admission register, the caste of the writ petitioner's
S. NAGARAJAN v. DISTRICT COLLECTOR 223

father Thiru N. Siddareddi was originally noted as 'Hindu Reddi' A
only. Subsequently, the word 'konda has been written in it, in
brackets and that too in different ink. The corrections have not
been attested by the Headmaster. A certificate issued on 2.7.1953
by the village Munsif of Kannamoochi has been pasted in the
admission register which does not bear the initial or signature of B
the Headmaster for having accepted it. In the Transfer Certificate
dated 16.6.1955 also, his caste has been originally noted as Hindu
Reddiar and subsequently the word 'konda' has been added. Even
accepting that the correction in the Admission Register had ac-
tually been made in the year 1953 itself on the strength of the
Village Munsif Certificate dated 2.7.1953, the caste in the T.C. C
would have been noted as Hindu Kanda Reddi in the first instance
itself. Even in the SerVice Register of Siddareddy, it has been noted
as Hindu/Reddi {konda). Hence it is patently clear that the caste
noted in the admission register was not corrected in the year 1953
but was corrected long after the entry of Thiru Siddareddy into D
Government Service. The other documents filed by the petitioner
do not support the claim that the writ petitioner is a kondareddi.

2. It is an established position of law that though jurisdiction
under f..rt. 226 of the Constitution is wide, but nevertheless it
cannot be exercised as an appellate jurisdiction and it is not open E
to this court to appreciate the evidence and come to its own
conclusion as long as it is shown that the fact finding authority has
followed the provision of law correctly and appreciated the
evidence in a reasonable manner. In other words, the approach of
the fact finding authority not being perverse and unreasonable and F
not being vitiated by non-consideration of the evidence on record,
the fact that this Court can come to a different conclusion on the
very same evidence would not be a ground for interference. Added
to that, while considering a similar issue, the Supreme Court in·
Madhuri Patil v. Additional Commissioner Tribal. Development,
AIR {1995) S.C. 94 has held as follows : G

"The question then is whether the approach adopted by the
High Court in not elaborately considering the case is vitiated by
an error of law. High Court is not a Court of appeal to appreciate
the evidence. The Committee which is empowered to evaluate the H·
224 SUPREME· COURT REPORTS. (1997] 1 S.C.R.

evidence placed before it when records a finding of fact, it ought
l
A ..J.4·
to prevail unless found vitiated· by judicial review of any High Court
subject to limitations of interference with findings of fact. The
Committee when considers all the material facts· and record a
finding, though another view, as a Court of appeal may be possible,
it is not -a ground to reverse the findings. The Court has to see
B whether the Committee considered all the relevant material placed
before it or has not applied its mind to relevant facts which have
led the committee ultimately recorded the finding. Each case must
be considered in the back drop of its own facts."

c 3. Further, in a case like this, the determining factor is the
community to which the father of the Writ Petitioner belonged. In
the instant case, the father of the Writ Petitioner never claimed
that he· was a kondareddi, even though he was a Government
servant. Kondareddy is recognised as a scheduled tribe. Any per·
son entering a government service, if he is entitled to such a benefit,
D would never fail to avail such a benefit. If the father of the Writ
petitioner was a Kondareddi, he would not have failed to take
advantage of the fact that he belonged to kondareddy, as such he
was a scheduled tribe and entitled to all the benefits. He had not
done so. The learned single judge, referring tfl the community of
E the father of the Writ petitioner, in paragraph 12 has observed as
follows:

"It is apparent that petitioner's father was fully aware when he
entered government service that he did not belong to any
p Scheduled Tribe. He has attempted to take advantage· of the name
'Reddy' being part of the name of Scheduled Tribe 'konda Reddy'
and had 'konda' ~dded to his school records and declare that his
son's community is 'konda reddy' so that the same may be entered
in the petitioner's school records. Such entries cannot confer the
status of Scheduled Tribes. The claim made on the basis of such
G records is, in the words of apex Court, in ·the case of Madhuri Patil
is one of 'Pseudo status'".

This Court in several cases has negatived the claim even when the
claimants' father had enjoyed the status of Scheduh:d Tribe on the basis of
H the fincftng made in the enquiry that he did not belong to Scheduled Tribes.
S. NAGARAJAN v. DISTRICT COLLECTOR 225

This is a converse case. A

Shri Vaidyanathan, learned senior coiinsel appearing for the appel-
lant, contends that the view expressed by the courts below is not correct
and in view of the fact that the appellant's grand father had entered into
an unregistered agreement wherein they claimed the status of Konda
Reddy, a Scheduled Tribe, prior to 1949, it is unlikely that the appellant B
would fabricate the records and claim the status of being a member of the
Scheduled Tribe community. The High Court is not a court of appeal to
appreciate the evidence. The Collector after detailed consideration of the
evidence placed by the petitioner, has .concluded that the appellant is not
a member of Schedule Tribe (Konda Reddy). His fathe,r, N. Siddwareddi C
had never claimed this status. Though in the ordinary course he would have
claimed to be belonging to the Scheduled Tribe community to avail the
benefit of reservation available under State service, The learned Single
Judge was right in concluding that the appellant's father ·having been in
Government service would not have omitted to claim his status as belong- D
ing to Scheduled Tribe had he really been a member of Scheduled Tribe
community. (Konda Reddy), On the other hand, his father was Reddy
which is a forward caste and that therefore, the subsequent interpolation
that he was Konda Reddy (interpolation) is not genuine and an incorrect
document was thus brought into existence to claim the status as Scheduled
Tribe. It is obvious that the Constitution intended to give benefit of social E
and economic advancement and empowerment and social equality of status
and dignity of person, by providing reservation in services of the State and
in education by operation of Articles 15, 16 and 14 of the Constitution and

-- that therefore, only the persons who are members of Scheduled Tribes and
Scheduled Castes alone are entitled to the benefit By interpolation of the F
documents, none can get a particular social status unless it is recognised
as per the Presidential Notification/Order under Article 341 or 342, to avail
of the benefit of reservation made in that behalf. The High Court was,
therefore, correct in accepting the conclusion reached by the Collector that
the appellant had not established his status as Scheduled Tribe.
G
The appeal is accordingly dismissed. No costs.

T.NA. Appeal dismissed.