WP/36888/2025 of Nagula Santhosh Vs State of Telangana on 20 January 2026

ORDER:

Thc case of the petitioners is that they belong to M r radevpur Mandal ol' Jayashankar Bhupalpally District, and that thcy mir I r reprcsentations dated 06.02.2025 and,26.l1.2025 to the respondents No.l I rd 3, i.e., District Collector of Jayashankar Bhupalpatly District, and Tahs I lar, Mahaclevpur Mandal, rcspectivcly, bringing to their notice that the uno . cial rcsporldenrs No.4 and 5, i.e., Vcnnapureddy Vasantha w/o Vennapur.cr r v Mohan Reddy, and Vemapureddy Mohan Reddy, respectively, have frar r trlently obtained Backward Class-B certificates declaring themselves as bc r nging to Gandla Caste of BC comn.runity, when actually the unofficiat respc rdents belong to Reddy Caste under General Community. The petitioner,; have also made representations under Right to Information Act, 2005, betr,r : the respondent No.3 about the candidates who were approved BC castc ::rtificates under wp_3588a_2025 NBK, ] Gandla Caste, and the 3'd respondent provided inlormation vide Rc.No.C/l31/2025 dated 03.07.2025,, wherein the 3'd respondent submitted the report by recommending to the 2nd respondent to cancel the Caste Certificates stated therein, issued in villagcs of Mahadevpur Mandal. The unolficial respondents are shown at Serial Nos.l0 and 1 I of the said letter dated 03.07.2025. It is the grievance ol' the petitioners that their representations dated 06.02.2025 and 26. 11.2025 have not yet been acted upon by the respondents No.2 and 3, and therefbre the petitioners seek a direction to the respondents No.2 and 3 to dispose ol'the rcpresentations of the petitioners, dated 06.02.2025 and 26.11.2025. by conducting enquiry into the matter in accordance with law.

2. Heard Ms. P. Sumalatha, learned counsel for the petitioner; and learned Govemment Pleader for Backward Classes. learned Governrnent Pleader for Revenue, and Mr. Karunakar Reddy, leamed counsel for unolficial respondents No.4 and 5. Perused the record.

3. Leamed counsel for the petitioners rvould draw the attention of the Court to Telangana (Scheduted Castes, Scheduled Tribes, and Backward Classes) Regulation of Issue of Community Certificates Act, 1993 rvherein the Commission, at Paragraph No.VII has advised that the request for inclusion of " Reddy Gandla" community in the Central list of backward classesfor Andhra Pradesh be rejected as it is not a socially backward class. Leamed counsel would also place on record an Income & Asset Certiflcate issued to one Vennapureddy Nandhini, D/o Vennapureddy Shyamsunder of Jayashankar Bhupalpatly District, wherein it is recorded that the said Vennapureddy Nandhini belongs to OC Reddy Caste, rvhich is not a recognized as Scheduled Caste, Scheduled Tribe, and Other Backward Classes (Central List). Leamed counsel would however contend that their ./ ./l wp 36888_202s N8K, ] representatiorls on the caste ceftificate obtained t1, the unofllcial respondents fraudulcntly, has not been disposed of to dr t ).

4. Leamed counsel for unofficial respondents pla:, an earlier order passed by this ('ourr in W.P.No.2l24l of 2018, datecl trt 07.201g. rvherein the unotllcial resporrde.ts approached this court aggrier r J by non-issuance of Digitat caste certificate despite issuing them with a lriLr Jcopy of the caste ceftif-rcate earlier; and this court directed the authoritie ; to issuc Digital Certit-rcate, howe'n,cr, by observing that the Order doc; rrot preclude the authorities fi'orn initiating action under Section 5 of the - rct. il they are o1- the vierv that the caste certificate is lalse. Learned coun; I drarvs attcntion to a publication titled "The Castes and Tribes of tl I lt. 'fhe Nizam .t [)ominions "r whe rcin under Chapter XCII (chapter 92). there is a description on the origins and Internal Structures of reti .tr ()ctnclla casIe. stating that " ln Te lingana the caste is divided inro thefolk.t .ing enclogontou.s grpups. Derrt Gantlla, Balna Gandla, Telkula Ganrll,t Rctltli Concllo. L'tuttcD,edtlu Gandlu. Siva Gandla ... ". Attention is al o drawn to thc .lelanlarra State c.rrmission for Backward classes, letter ated 26.04.2023 addrcssed by the Me,ber Secretary of the Commissi.r to the District collecto's. wherein a represenLation ol Mulukalla Thirr pathi, president Gandla Kula Sankshema Sangham, Jayashankar Bhupalpa I y. District, dated 14.09.2019, has been relerrcd, and asked the District colli,r tors to look into the rnafter and offer their remarks. Further, I letter vide Rc.No.A 111057 /2008 dated t l.l2.z009 of the Backward llasses welt'are Departmcnt, during the erstwhile composite State of Andh-i pradesh is also placed to contend that originally these people used to eke r r t their Iiving by mitting oitusing the traditional wooden-milling (chakka-g: .ruga) and were 18y Syed Srrat Ul Hassan of Oxford Trinity College, London, (published in The Tim - press, 1920)

wp,36E88_2O25 NBK, J referred as "Gandla" only, however, with the gradual phasing out of the profession of "chakka-ganuga", the people practiced agriculture, and the younger generation fondly suffixed Reddy to their narnes out offashion, and thereby came to be called "Reddy Gandla" community. It is further contcndcd that the power to cancel a community certificate is exclusively vested in the District Collector under Section 5( I ) of the Act; and the petitioners without even waiting for the District Collector to pass orders on their representations filed this writ petition. It is contended that even assuming that the Distlict Collector passes order againsl the unofficial respondents, the unofficial respondents have a statutory right ol'appeal to the Government (Backward Classes) Welfare Department. undcr Section 7(2) ol the Act, and also there is a revierv remedy bcfbre the' Governrnent. Leamed counsel therefore contends that the petitioners circurnventcd the statutory mechanism and hled this writ petition.

5. Learned Govemment Pleader for Backward Classes. based on the counter affidavit filed by respondent No.3-Tahsildar, Mahadcvpur Mandal, would essentially contend that in response to the Tahsildar's letter dated 03 .07 .2025, the respondent No.2-District Collector has addressed a letter dated 06.12.2025 to the Member Secretary, Telangana Cornmission for Backward Classes, Hyderabad, requesting to issue necessary instructions in the matter, and the Member Secretary advised the District Collector to follow the Standing Instructions of the Govemment in thc matter of issuance of community certificates to the Reddy Gandla community, until any modification or revised orders are issued by the Govemment. [t is contended that the Gram Panchayat election schedule for Kaleshwaram Grampanchayat ofMahadevpur Mandal has been issued, and the nomination filing process has also been completed and final list olcontesting candidates

wp 36888 2025 NBK, ] was published on 09.12.2025, and the polling dirt: is scheduled for 11.12.2025. It is lunher conlended that the petitioner l' o.l and unofficial respondent No.5 ale contcsting the Grampanchayat ele r ,ions, and election syrnbols have bee, allotted to both and at this stage t r , petitioners claim cannot be considered. and thercfore appropriate orders r r li be passed in the ri rit petitiorr. 6, Ilaving considered the respective submissions ancl I ertrsed the record, at the outset, the qrievance o1'the petitioners is that the raste ol unofficial respondents does not lhll under BC-B community, and tl r ir caste certificate clair*ing Reddl (iandla casrc is lraudulently obtainec The petitior.rers subrrritted represerlralions dated 06.02.2025, and l( I I .2025 to the respondents No.' and 3, however, the representations have becn kept pending to date.

7. At this juncture. ir is ro be noted that the task of dc( nnining whether a partic.lar caste is/has to be included within a particuL r Backwar.d class cornrnunity, or excludcd, talls within the domain of the ri ackward classes Conrmission, and the (iovemment is competent authority t r issue necessary orders based on thc rec.mmendations of the Backward Clrr ses comrnission in such rnatters. In the instant case, it is the specific stand r f the respondent No.3-'fahsildar through the counter alfidavit that the M t mber Secretary, Telangana Commission for Backward Classes has advis,r, the respondent No.2-District collector to follow the Standing Instructions in the matter of issuance of community certificates to the Reddy Gandla r ommunity until any modification or revised orders are issued by the Goven u lent. Therefore, this court does nor see any impediment for the respond: rt No.2-District Collector in disposing the representations dated 06.02 .202! , and.26.ll .2025 filed by the petitioners, in accordance with the Standing Irs ructions issued \

wp 35888 202s NB(, ] by the Govemment in this matter, and also take consequential action as per Section 5 of the Act, if the unolficial respondents are found to be not belonging to Reddy Gandla caste, falling under Backward Class-B community.

8. [n that view of the mattcr, the respondent No.2.District Collector, Jayashankar Bhupatpally District, is directed to pass appropriate orders on the representations dated 06.02.2025, and 26.1 | .2025, in accordance with the extant guidelines of the Government in the matter, as per law, within a period ol three weeks from the date ofreceipt of a copy of this order' 8.1 Though a contention is ra ised by the 3'd respondent that election schedule has been finalised for Kaleshwaram Grampanchayat, and both the petitioner as well as the unofflciat respondent are contesting, this Court is not inclined to advert to that contention in this writ petition filed about the alleged lraudulent caste certificate of the unofficial respondent, as the essential grievance of the petitioners in this writ petition is that the respondent authorities have not acted on their representations dated 06.02.2025 and 16.11.2025. Necdless to state that it shall be left open for the respective parties to agitate their grievance, if any, in appropriate proceedings, pursuant to the orders that would be passed by the 2'd respondent,, as directed above. g. Accordingly, the writ petition is disposed of with the above direction' No costs. Miscellaneous petitions pending, i all stand closed. Sd/.S.MALLIKARJUNA RAO ASSISTANT REGISTRAR G //TRUE COPY// SECTION OFFICER To, il

The Principal Secretary, Backward Classes Welfare Department Telangana Secretariat, Hyderabad.

2. The District Collector, Jayashankar Bhupalpalty District, at Bhupalpa y

3. The Tahsildar, Mahadevpur Mandal, Jayashankar Bhupalpally District.

4. One CC to SRI P. SUMALATHA, Advocate [OPUC]

Qryrr, 5 One CC to SRI M KARUNAKAR REDDY, Advocate [CF JC]

6. One CC to SRI RAMAKRISHNA KULAKARNI, Advocarr [OPUC]

7. Two CCs to GP FOR BACKWARD CLASSES, High Cc.. t for the State of Telangana at Hyderabad . [OUT] L Two CCs to GP FOR REVENUE, High Court for the St: t I of Telangana at Hyderabad [OUT]

9. Two CD Copies PM K/PN{K \ M/

HIGH COURT DATED:2010112026

ORDER

WP.No.36888 of 2025 DISPOSING OF THE WRIT PETITION WITHOUT COSTS CC TODAY \ Vo u- /v( E14 =$

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