Bombay High Court: pension can't be denied over a caste certificate invalidated after retirement

The Bombay High Court set aside an order invalidating the Scheduled Tribe caste certificate of a Maharashtra government employee after her retirement, and directed release of her pension, gratuity and other retiral dues with 8 percent annual interest. The petitioner, who worked for 38 years as a peon at a Primary Health Centre and belonged to the Thakar Tribe, was never required to produce a validated caste certificate during her service; it was referred for verification only after she superannuated in May 2020, and the Scheduled Tribe Certificate Scrutiny Committee invalidated it in February 2022. As a result she was denied consideration for promotion during service and, after retirement, her pension, gratuity and other benefits were withheld entirely.

A Division Bench of Justices G.S. Kulkarni and Dr Neela Gokhale held that where an employee's caste certificate is never questioned throughout her service and is invalidated only after superannuation, she cannot be deprived of retiral benefits on that ground alone. The court relied on a consistent line of its own decisions and on the Supreme Court's ruling in Surekha Baljorsingh Thakur v. Caste Scrutiny Committee, which used its powers under Article 142 of the Constitution to grant pensionary benefits in a similar situation. It also noted the Maharashtra government's 2019 policy protecting the service of Scheduled Tribe employees whose certificates are invalidated after long service, on humanitarian grounds.