Quota benefit after adoption by SC man valid: High Court

Saurabh Malik

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Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, February 19

The Punjab and Haryana High Court has made it clear that a person cannot be prevented from taking the benefit of a Scheduled Caste certificate issued to him by a competent authority on the basis of adoption by a person belonging to a reserved category.

The ruling came in case of a “Brahmin” child adopted by a person belonging to a reserved category after his mother’s death. For reaching the conclusion, Justice Jaishree Thakur distinguished his case from the judgment rendered in Valsamma Paul’s case.

The Supreme Court, in the case, had held that caste was determined by birth. In case a person belonging to a forward caste had an advantageous start in life, she would not be entitled to benefits of reservation for backward classes on account of marriage with a person from a reserved category.

“The judgment relied upon by the counsel for the respondent is distinguishable and not applicable to the facts of the present case. In Valsamma Paul’s case, the appellant therein had all the advantages of belonging to a forward class before her marriage. In the instant case, the petitioner was brought up by his adopted parents belonging to a reserved category. His natural father had remarried and had a family of his own,” Justice Thakur ruled.