Uttarakhand: Dehradun District Magistrate should not be negligent – Bobby Pawar

Today, on 10th May 2025, Uttarakhand Swabhiman Morcha President Bobby Panwar, while addressing the journalists on the ongoing controversy regarding the caste certificate of Rishikesh Mayor Shambhu Paswan, said that bypassing the decision of the Constitutional Bench of the Hon’ble Supreme Court, the decision of the Hon’ble High Court and the guidelines issued by the Government of India from time to time, robbing the rights of the original Scheduled Castes of Uttarakhand, the BJP gave ticket to Shambhu Paswan, a person of Bihar origin, and Shambhu Paswan has been elected to the post of Mayor. Bobby Panwar said that in the sequence of the petition filed by complainant Dinesh Chandra Master in the Hon’ble Court, before the inquiry committee constituted under the chairmanship of District Magistrate Dehradun on the orders of the Hon’ble Court, as the representative of complainant Dinesh Chandra, Uttarakhand Swabhiman Morcha’s State Spokesperson Suresh Singh had presented all the documents while keeping all the senior officials informed about the guidelines of the Hon’ble Supreme Court, various Hon’ble High Courts and the Government of India issued from time to time before the inquiry committee, but the inquiry committee did not take cognizance of any document and a one-sided report has been prepared in favor of Shambhu Paswan, which has to be taken cognizance of by the District Magistrate Dehradun and the final report has to be submitted to the Hon’ble Court. Apart from this, Suresh Singh has also submitted a memorandum with complete facts to the Chief Secretary, Secretary Social Welfare and Additional Secretary Personnel and Vigilance, on which information will be sought from the said senior officials regarding the action taken on the said case very soon and all the documents will be placed before the Hon’ble Court. Bobby Pawar cited the 1977 government order issued by the Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India, to shed light on the aspect of “residence” in relation to caste status and said that according to the government order, “the “residence” of a particular person in a particular locality is of special importance. This “residence” should not be understood in the liberal or general sense of the word. On the other hand, it refers to the permanent residence of a person on the date of notification (year 1950) of the President’s order determining his caste/tribe in relation to that locality.” Apart from this, Bobby Pawar has also mentioned the 1985 and 2018 government orders of the Government of India. Bobby Pawar said that various Government of India orders elaborate that “a person who, at the time of notification of the Presidential Order applicable to his case, is temporarily away from his place of permanent residence, for example, for earning livelihood or pursuing education, etc., may also be treated as a Scheduled Caste or a Scheduled Tribe, as the case may be, if his caste/tribe has been specified in that order in relation to his State/Union Territory but he cannot be treated as such in relation to his place of temporary residence, notwithstanding the fact that the name of his caste/tribe has been scheduled in the Presidential Order in relation to that area.” It also provides as follows in respect of persons born after the date of the Presidential notification (1950):-“In the case of persons born after the date of notification of the relevant Presidential Order, the place of residence for the purpose of acquiring Scheduled Caste or Scheduled Tribe status shall be the permanent place of residence of their parents at the time of notification of the Presidential Order under which they claim to belong to such caste/tribe. Bobby Pawar submitted that the Constitution Bench in Marri Chandra Shekhar Rao (supra), Full Bench of Bombay High Court in the case of Santalal Lal v. State of Maharashtra, (2010) 32 RCR (Civil) 288, the Hon’ble Supreme Court in Ranjana Kumari v. State of Uttarakhand and others, (2019) 15 SCC 664 observed that two Constitution Bench decisions of this Court in Marri Chandra and Action Committee have taken the view that merely because the same caste is recognised as Scheduled Caste in the migrant State, the migrant cannot be recognised as Scheduled Caste of the migrant State.

Bobby Pawar said that the law laid down by the Hon’ble Supreme Court is that a person and his progeny can avail reservation benefits only from the State of origin, i.e. the State where he had his permanent residence on the date of the relevant notification in the year 1950 and under no circumstances can it be given to migrants of that caste who have come to the State after the relevant notification, even if they have resided in the State of migration for a very long time, their children or grandchildren born and brought up in the same State, even if they have received their education and have taken up employment or set up business in the same State or even if they have acquired land and property in that State. It is certainly not acceptable to dilute this provision under the law and to allow a person to avail benefits meant for SCs from the State of migration on the ground that he was born in that State or has become a resident of that State by virtue of staying in that State for 15 years or more. Bobby Panwar has demanded the District Magistrate to review the investigation report, take cognizance of all the documents, submit the final report to the Hon’ble Court and immediately cancel the election of Rishikesh Mayor and hold fresh elections. Bobby Panwar also criticized the Congress MLA Pritam Singh and Leader of Opposition Yashpal Arya, who belong to Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe, on this issue and said that the said persons have been doing politics for a long time by taking advantage of reservation, but are neither aware of the basic rights of Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe nor do they have any information and remained silent on the said issue in the Assembly session as well, whereas the said two Congress leaders should have spoken openly on the basic rights of the original Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe of the state, but both the leaders were seen in the role of friendly opposition in the Assembly. On this occasion, State General Secretary of Sainik Cell of Uttarakhand Swabhiman Morcha Rajendra Bhatt, Deepti Bisht, Ram Kandwal, Suresh Singh, Pramod Kala etc. were present.