The Delhi High Court Wednesday asked the Centre to place its stand in a plea moved by a single mother seeking issuance of an OBC certificate for her two sons by the Delhi government on the ground that she has been issued one. A single judge bench of Justice Prathiba Singh was hearing the woman's plea which claimed that as per guidelines of the Delhi government for issuance of OBC certificate, it cannot be granted based on the OBC Certificate of a single mother and the applicant has to produce OBC certificate from paternal side only. On November 23, the Delhi Government drew the high court's attention to a supplementary affidavit filed by them submitting that "while principally the Government of NCT of Delhi feels that single mothers belonging to the OBC should have the ability to apply for and obtain a caste certificate in respect of their children, it has not been able to take a final decision in that respect since clarification has been sought from the union government and the same is awaited". Today, the Delhi government counsel Avishkar Singhvi submitted that they had no objection to issuing this certificate. Singhvi referred to a letter written to the ministry of social justice and empowerment on July 4, 2022, addressing this issue. "We have clearly said in the legislative assembly that this benefit be given to single mothers in the OBC category.” The court was informed that the Centre was not a party in the present proceedings. Appearing for the mother, advocate Karan Babuta argued that the HC, in the previous hearing, had observed that the Delhi government has the power to change the guidelines. To this, Justice Singh said that there were two ways to address the issue “either the Union clarifies its position or you maintain this only against the Government of NCT of Delhi”. Babuta submitted that the petitioner's son will be in Class 12 soon and had to fill up forms for studying in institutes for preparation of studies and hence required this certificate. Though the HC noted that the state government had sent a letter to the Centre, it received no response. "It is deemed appropriate to implead Union of India through Secretary, Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment," the HC said and asked advocate Ajay Digpaul who appears for the Centre to seek instructions in two weeks and file an affidavit, listing the matter on April 13. In the previous hearing, the Delhi government had said that issue had arisen in the context of the circular which had been issued by the Union government which restricted this facility to single mothers belonging to the Scheduled Caste or Scheduled Tribes only and did not extend its provisions to cover single mothers belonging to the OBC category. The HC in its November order took a prima facie view that the "denial of such a benefit to single mothers belonging to OBC would appear to be not only manifestly arbitrary but may also amount to a hostile discrimination". The High Court had also noted that the Delhi government had accepted and recognised its authority to frame its own independent list relating to OBC in light of the provisions contained in Article 342A(3) of the Constitution. "If the GNCTD be the authority for maintaining the State list of OBCs, it would appear to have the requisite authority to deal with the issue which arises independently," the HC noted, granting a last opportunity to the Delhi government to obtain further clarifications from the Centre. The plea claims that such action by the respondents(Department of Revenue Delhi government and SDM, Saraswati Vihar) is clearly against the provisions of the Constitution of India. The mother asserts that the inaction by respondents to issue an OBC certificate to her sons based on the certificate of their single mother is also in contravention of the rights of the children who belong to the other backward class.
