NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court has agreed to examine a plea that challenges the current guidelines requiring caste certificates for claiming Other Backward Class (OBC) status to be based solely on paternal lineage, despite instances where children are solely raised by single mothers from OBC communities.
A vacation bench of Justice K.V. Viswanathan and Justice Nongmeikapam Kotiswar Singh, while terming the matter as important, flagged the “serious hardship” faced by single mothers in securing OBC status for their children under prevailing rules.
“If the mother is OBC and is raising the child alone, why should she be going after the father for a certificate? Why can’t the child be issued a certificate based on the mother’s status?” Justice Viswanathan asked during the hearing.
The Bench noted that the issue was worthy of wider deliberation, particularly in light of previous judgments that extended Scheduled Caste/Scheduled Tribe (SC/ST) benefits to children raised by mothers from such communities in inter-caste marriages, provided they were brought up in the relevant socio-cultural environment.
“If the child is brought up in such surroundings, benefit is given. Then why not here?” the bench observed, hinting at the evolving jurisprudence around caste identity in social welfare laws.
The petition before the Court challenges the requirement that caste must be proven through paternal bloodline, arguing that this creates systemic barriers for children of divorced, deserted, or abandoned mothers belonging to OBC communities.
It asserts that such guidelines discriminate against women-headed households, and violate the principle of equality, especially where the mother is the sole caregiver and financial provider, yet cannot pass on her caste status to the child for availing constitutionally guaranteed reservation benefits.
A counsel for the Delhi government acknowledged that guidelines would have to be framed to address the concerns raised. The Additional Solicitor General Sanjay Jain, also agreed that the issue required clarification on broader principles of caste recognition in such circumstances.
Recognising the issue’s significance, the bench directed that the matter be listed for final hearing on July 22, subject to directions by the Chief Justice of India, Justice B.R. Gavai.
