Full Judgment
A.S. Naidu, J.
1. The Petitioner had approached the Tahsildar, Nayagarh by fining a petition under the Miscellaneous Certificate Rules with a prayer to issue caste certificate in his favour. The said petition was registered as Misc. Certificate Case No. 1818 of 1998. According to the Petitioner he had been adopted by Shri Sansar Pradhan and the latter had no children. Certain disputes having cropped up with regard to his adoption he had filed a suit in the Court of the Civil Judge (JD),. Nayagarh with a prayer to declare him as the adopted son of said Sansar Pradhan. The said suit was registered as T.S. No. 10 of 1998 and a decree was passed therein on 8-7-1998 declaring him as the adopted son. The Tahsildar conducted some local enquiry, examined aforesaid Sansar Pradhan and some other villagers and without relying, upon the aforesaid decree of Civil Court held that he was not satisfied that the Petitioner had in fact been adopted by Sansar Pradhan and, accordingly, refused to grant the caste certificate applied for by the Petitioner. Being aggrieved, the Petitioner filed an appeal before the Sub-Collector, Nayagarh which was registered as Revenue Misc.Certificate Appeal No. 2 of 1998. The Sub-Collector also without relying upon the Judgment and decree passed by Civil Court in favour of the Petitioner, dismissed the appeal and upheld the order of the Tahsildar. Being aggrieved the Petitioner has approached this Court.
2. Learned Counsel for the Petitioner forcefully submitted before this Court that the Tahsildar and Sub-Collector were bound by the aforesaid decree passed by a Civil Court. He further submitted that the Petitioner had not applied for the caste certificate for any specific purpose and, as such, there was no bar for the aforesaid authorities to issue such certificate.
3. In course of hearing as this Court entertained some doubt, it called upon both the natural father and adoptive father of the Petitioner to appear before this Court, in consonance with the said direction both of them appeared before the Court and submitted that in fact out of love and affection Sansar has adopted the Petitioner as his son.
4. Learned Counsel appearing for the State forcefully argued that if a person belonging to general category goes on adoption to the family of a reserved category, then he is not entitled to get any benefit whatsoever available to the reserved category persons. Relying upon a decision of the Supreme Court reported in AIR 1969 SC 1011 he further submitted that no caste certificate can be granted in favour of the Petitioner on the basis of a civil Court decree for the purpose of utilizing the same in service or studies. But then the ratio of the said decision is not applicable to the present case, inasmuch the application filed by the Petitioner before the Tahsildar did not indicate that the certificate was necessary for any specific purpose. That apart, law is well settled that if a person belonging to general category is adopted by a family of reserved category, he will not be entitled to any benefit whatsoever enjoyed by the reserved category. Be that as it may, the Tahsildar and the Sub-Collector were bound by the decree passed by a Civil Court.
5. In view of the aforesaid clear position, and as the decree passed by the Civil Court is binding on all, the same having not been varied or reversed by any competent Court, this Court directs the Tahsildar to issue the caste certificate applied for by the Petitioner, but then with an endorsement by him on the said certificate that the same shall not be utilized for the purpose of education or Government service.
6. With the aforesaid direction the Writ application is disposed of.