In Brief
A woman elected as Adhyaksha of a Zilla Panchayat in Karnataka challenged a High Court decision that had issued a writ of quo warranto against her, on the ground that her caste certificate was fraudulently obtained. The Supreme Court held that a writ of quo warranto cannot be issued merely on suspicions or prima facie doubts about the issuance process of a certificate. Since the Income and Caste Certificate remained valid and in force under statutory law, and its validity was pending determination by the competent Caste Verification Committee, the High Court erred in issuing the extraordinary writ without the certificate first being declared void. The Court allowed the appeal and directed the Caste Verification Committee to expedite its enquiry into the certificate's validity in a time-bound manner.
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