In Brief
A teacher was appointed to Kendriya Vidyalaya on the basis of a Scheduled Caste (SC) certificate obtained after her marriage to a person of SC community, though she was born in the Agarwal (general caste) family. The certificate was cancelled after a complaint. Her service was terminated, and the High Court upheld the termination. The Supreme Court held that caste is determined by birth and cannot change through marriage, so the authorities' actions were justified. However, exercising discretion under Article 142 of the Constitution and considering her 21 years of unblemished service and absence of fraud, the Court converted the termination into compulsory retirement.
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