The Supreme Court has stepped in to protect the pensionary and retiral benefits of a former municipal employee whose Scheduled Tribe certificate was declared invalid decades after he entered public service.
Invoking its extraordinary powers under Article 142 of the Constitution, the Court held that the employee’s long years of service could be recognised for the limited purpose of calculating and releasing his retirement benefits.
The case concerned a Junior Engineer (Civil) appointed by the Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai in 1994. His appointment was based on a certificate claiming that he belonged to the ‘Tokre Koli’ Scheduled Tribe.
Years later, the validity of the certificate came under scrutiny. In 2020, the competent scrutiny committee invalidated it, a decision subsequently upheld by the Bombay High Court.
The employee then approached the Supreme Court.
While the proceedings were pending, he continued in service under an interim order and eventually retired in 2025 upon reaching the age of superannuation.
By then, the dispute had acquired a different dimension. The employee had already spent more than three decades in service, prompting him to seek protection of his retiral and pensionary benefits.
The Supreme Court accepted that request while leaving intact the finding that his caste certificate was invalid.
Taking note of the exceptional circumstances, the Court said the employee should not lose the benefits flowing from the services he had actually rendered over such a long period.
The Court drew support from earlier decisions, including Surekha Baljorsingh Thakur v. Caste Scrutiny Committee & Anr. and Chairman and Managing Director, Food Corporation of India v. Jagdish Balaram Bahira & Ors.
In the latter case, the Supreme Court had recognised that appointments obtained on the basis of invalid caste or tribe certificates would ordinarily not survive. However, the Court also acknowledged that Article 142 could be invoked in exceptional cases to ensure complete justice.
Applying that principle, the Court directed that the employee’s service from October 21, 1994, until his retirement on June 30, 2025, would remain protected solely for determining and releasing his retiral and pensionary dues under the applicable service rules.
At the same time, the Court made it clear that the relief should not be misunderstood as recognition of the employee’s claim to Scheduled Tribe status.
The invalidated certificate will not be revived, and neither the employee nor any member of his family can claim any future benefit on the basis of the ‘Tokre Koli’ Scheduled Tribe certificate.
The appeal was accordingly partly allowed.
