While hearing Mah. Adiwasi Thakur Jamat Swarakshan Samiti vs The State of Maharashtra case on March 24, the Supreme court answered the question, “whether the affinity test is a litmus test for deciding a caste claim.” In other words, it was determined whether paramount importance is required to be given to the affinity test while adjudicating upon a caste claim on grounds of a caste certificate issued by a Competent Authority. The full bench of the Bombay High Court in the Shilpa Vishnu Thakur v. State of Maharashtra case stated that the “affinity test is an integral part of the determination of the correctness of the caste claim.” The matter was presented before a three-judge bench comprising Justice Abhay S. Oka, Justice Manoj Misra, and Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul. The bench stated that the “affinity test is not a litmus test to decide a caste claim and is not an essential part in the process of the determination of the correctness of a caste or tribe claim in every case.” The top Court further added that an occasion for conducting an affinity test will arise only after a case is referred to the Vigilance Cell for making an inquiry. Moreover, while referring the case to the Vigilance Cell, a brief record of the reasons regarding the dissatisfaction of the Scrutiny Committee with the material produced by the applicant should be clearly mentioned.
During the hearing, a controversy regarding the fact that whether the vigilance cell constituted under the ST Rules has the power to conduct the affinity test. It was determined that “the Vigilance Cell is required to enquire about anthropological and ethnological traits, deities, rituals, customs, mode of marriage, death ceremonies, method of disposal of dead bodies, etc. by the castes or tribes or tribal communities concerned.” In addition to this, an elaborative mechanism for regulating the issue and verification of caste certificates to persons belonging to various categories of backward classes was mentioned in the Special Backward Category (Regulation of Issuance and Verification of) Caste certificate Act, 2000. Herein, a two-level mechanism was provided, “The first level is of the Competent Authority issuing a caste certificate which is valid only subject to verification and grant of validity certificate by the Scrutiny Committee constituted under the 2000 Act. Power is vested in the Scrutiny Committee constituted under Section 6 to verify the correctness of the caste certificates issued by the Competent Authority.” After a detailed discussion on the matter, the bench stated that the affinity test is not a litmus test for deciding a caste claim.
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