East Indian Christian student Samson Correia has moved the Bombay high court
East Indian Christian student Samson Correia has moved the Bombay high court challenging
the cancellation of his admission for want of a caste certificate.
Correia, a first-year student of Universal College of Engineering, Pune, has contended
in his petition that although his community has been officially included in the
list of Other Backward Classes (OBC), the tehsildar of Borivli did not issue him
a caste certificate since no instructions have so far been given about inclusion
of the community in the OBC list.
Last year, Universal College granted Correia provisional admission to the Electrical
Engineering course on the condition that he would furnish a caste certificate. Accordingly,
his family members applied for the certificate in July 2010, citing the government
resolution (GR) issued by the state government in March 2006 of including the community
in the list of OBCs.
However, the tehsildar expressed his inability to process the application, saying
he had not received any instructions regarding inclusion of the East Indian Christian
community in the OBC list. On January 31, 2011, the college issued Correia an ultimatum
to obtain a caste certificate within a month, failing which his admission would
be cancelled.
Ultimately, the Directorate of Technical Education cancelled his admission on March
1 for want of a caste certificate.
Appearing for the petitioner, advocate S Dighe argued, "The authorities have been
delaying the issuance of the certificate because of which the admission of the student
has been cancelled. His exams are ongoing and because of the delay, the student
is suffering. The court should take a lenient view as it is a matter of one crucial
year of a student."
On Tuesday, 7th June 2011 additional government pleader GW Mattos sought time to
file an affidavit in reply to the petition. "I will have to go through the papers
and then file my reply accordingly. Thus I would require time for it," he said.
The bench has adjourned the matter till June 13.
Courtesy: DNA India
