Staff Reporter
Guwahati: The Gauhati High Court observed that the petitioner’s grievance, seeking redressal of a systemic issue in the electoral process with respect to reserved constituencies in Assam, ‘appears to be genuine’, as the use of fake caste certificates is not a new occurrence. The HC ordered the issuance of notice to the respondents.
The observation was made by the bench of Chief Justice Ashutosh Kumar and Justice Arun Dev Choudhury while hearing a public interest litigation (PIL) bearing Case No. PIL/27/2026 filed by Rakesh Hazarika. In this petition, direction has been sought from the respondents for the creation or strengthening of a mechanism to verify the caste status of the candidates before they file nomination papers for election to the Legislative Assembly/Parliament so as to ensure that only the genuine SC/ST candidates can contest elections from the constituencies reserved exclusively for SC/ST candidates.
Currently, the practice is of the candidates submitting caste certificates which, in most of the cases, are issued based on the recommendation from the SC/ST community/association. The contention of the petitioner is that this practice of issuing caste certificates based on the recommendations of the community/association is prone to misuse, as there is always the risk of candidates with fake certificates or incorrect claims being allowed to contest and win elections from the reserved seats meant for genuine SC/ST candidates. If this happens, it would undermine the constitutional goal of representation of these disadvantaged communities under Articles 330 and 332 of the Constitution of India, the petitioner asserted.
Therefore, a proposal has been made in this petition of making the submission of a “verification certificate” from the State Level Scrutiny Committee mandatory at the stage of filing the nomination papers, in addition to the regular caste certificate. It is contended that the proposal would, perhaps, ensure that only authentic SC/ST candidates represent the reserved constituencies, preventing fake claims. The petitioner relies on the Supreme Court’s earlier judgement, where guidelines have been laid down to curb fake caste certificates.
The SC, in that case, issued a direction to the states to constitute State Level Scrutiny Committees to verify the genuineness of the claims of the persons and the certificates issued to them in this regard. Such committees should include responsible officers having expertise in the identification of tribal people, the SC had noted. In fact, in Kumari Mahuri Patil (supra), the SC also recommended the setting up of a vigilance cell, headed by a senior police officer, to investigate the claims and counter claims.
It is admitted in the petition that Assam has constituted such a State Level Scrutiny Committee with backup support from the Assam Institute of Research for Tribals and Scheduled Castes (AIRT&SC), which maintains the relevant data and is a party in this petition. It is contended that, as of today, there are about 2,000 complaints pending before the Scrutiny Committee, which exposes the system to vulnerability. Moreover, many examples have been cited where persons not belonging to the SC/ST community have been given the advantage of a caste certificate in the absence of proper scrutiny and verification.
In view of the afore-noted background facts, the bench noted that the prayer made in this petition is for a direction to the respondents to make it compulsory for the State Level Scrutiny Committee to ensure that a prospective candidate for election in the reserved constituencies in the State of Assam actually belongs to the SC/ST community or else to suggest any mechanism for ensuring a foolproof, fail-safe scrutiny of the candidates. “The grievance appears to be genuine, as use of fake caste certificates is not a new occurrence,” the bench observed.
Issuing notice to the respondents, the bench sought re-notification of the matter on July 17, 2026.