Stay updated with the latest - Click here to follow us on Instagram
Tags:
Journalism of Courage
In a setback to Gujarat Independent MLA Bhupendrasinh Khant from Morva Hadaf Assembly, the Gujarat High Court Friday rejected his petition challenging the decision of the state Tribal Development Commission (TDC) invalidating his tribal caste certificate.
With High Court’s order, Khant faces disqualification as an MLA since the Morva Hadaf Assembly constituency is reserved for the Scheduled Tribes (ST).
Khant had won the Assembly election by defeating BJP by a margin of over 4000 votes in Morva Hadaf seat. Khant, who was earlier with the Congress, contested the polls as an Independent after the party offered the seat to ally Bharatiya Tribal Party of Chotu Vasava. Days after the Assembly poll results, Khant met Congress chief Rahul Gandhi and returned to the party fold.
Days after the scrutiny committee headed by the tribal development commissioner set aside his ST community certificate in January, Khant moved the High Court, which asked the committee to give Khant a chance to produce documents to back his claim. The committee went through the documents and rejected his claim again, after which he moved the High Court again.
Khant had claimed that his father belonged to Other Backward Class (OBC) community, but his mother was a tribal. As his father had abandoned the family long ago, he identified himself as belonging to his mother’s caste, and thus the ST certificate was valid, the petition had said. The government lawyers argued that Khant had no concrete evidence to prove his claim, and records suggested that he was raised at his father’s house and not maternal grandfather’s family as claimed by him.
(With PTI inputs)
Stay updated with the latest - Click here to follow us on Instagram
