Here's a story about a retired engineer named Vinayak Marotrao Mahajan who had to fight for his pension after a dispute over his caste certificate. Let’s break down what happened.
Vinayak Mahajan, a 64-year-old retired engineer, faced a big problem when the Scheduled Tribe Caste Certificate Scrutiny Committee in Nagpur said he didn't belong to the 'Halba' Scheduled Tribe. This decision was made on December 29, 2017, and it led to his pension being stopped.
"I was hired purely because of my diploma in Mechanical Engineering," said Mahajan, emphasizing that he did not get his job because of any caste reservation.
Vinayak started his career as a Junior Engineer in 1981 and retired in 2014. Despite his long service, his pension was stopped in 2019 after the committee's decision. Vinayak argued that he was never employed or promoted based on any reserved category.
Vinayak provided several documents to support his claim of belonging to the 'Halba' caste, including school records from the 1960s and 1970s. However, the committee found conflicting documents showing his brother as 'Koshti,' a different caste.
Vinayak's lawyer mentioned several court cases to argue that his pension should not be stopped, especially since his caste was not questioned during his work years. The government of Maharashtra had also decided to give pension benefits to employees with invalidated caste certificates.
"If there is no questioning of caste during the work years, his pension cannot be stopped," argued Vinayak's lawyer.
The judges, Mrs. M. S. Jawalkar and Raj D. Wakode, looked at the evidence and past judgments. They found that Vinayak's job was not given based on any reserved position, so checking his caste certificate was unnecessary.
The court canceled the committee's decision and ordered the Maharashtra Jeevan Pradhikaran to give Vinayak all of his pension benefits immediately.
