SC sets aside order cancelling Navneet Kaur Rana's caste certificate

SC grants relief to Navneet Kaur Rana

The Supreme Court on April 4 set aside the order of Bombay High Court, which canceled the scheduled caste certificate of Amravati MP Navneet Kaur Rana.

The order pronounced by a bench, led by Justice JK Maheshwari, noted that SC found no reason to interfere in the order of the scrutiny committee, which had declared her caste certificate to be valid after enquiry.

Rana's case reached finality after nearly three year after the Bombay High Court judgment. In 2021, the HC  cancelled the caste certificate issued to Amravati Lok Sabha member Navneet Kaur Rana, saying it was obtained fraudulently using fabricated documents, and directed her to surrender it within six weeks.

The HC also  imposed a cost of Rs 2 lakh, which she needs to pay to the Maharashtra Legal Services Authority within a period of two weeks.

The HC noted that the claim of belonging to 'Mochi' caste made by Rana for obtaining the Scheduled Caste certificate itself was fraudulent and made with an intention to obtain various benefits available to a candidate from such category, despite knowing she does not belong to that caste.

Rana was elected from Maharashtra's Amravati Lok Sabha seat in 2019. She is an Independent MP backed by the NCP.

"The application (for caste certificate) was made intentionally to make a fraudulent claim to enable the respondent no.3 (Rana) to contest the election for the post of Member of Parliament on a seat reserved for a Scheduled Caste candidate," the HC said in its judgement.

The HC passed its order on a petition filed by social worker Anandrao Adsule, seeking cancellation of the caste certificate dated August 30, 2013 issued by Mumbai Deputy Collector, identifying Rana as belonging to the 'Mochi' caste.

Adsule later filed a complaint with the Mumbai District Caste Certificate Scrutiny Committee, which ruled in favour of Rana and validated her caste certificate.The petitioner's case was that Rana obtained the caste certificate using forged and fabricated documents.