Employer has no jurisdiction to enquire into caste status of employee, says Karnataka High Court

Bengaluru: The Dharwad bench of the Karnataka high court has held that an employer has no jurisdiction to enquire into the caste status of an employee. Justice M Nagaprasanna has said this while allowing the petition filed by a Fire Station Officer from Karwar.

The petitioner Raju Talwar was appointed as a Fire Station Officer under the category Other Backward Classes, as his caste at the time of appointment was notified as OBC-I.

While he was posted at Karwar, on March 20, 2020, the Scheduled Tribes order was amended and Talawar caste was included as Scheduled Tribe in Entry No.38 by substituting the caste therein.

On October 29, 2022, the state government removed the Talawar caste from the list of reservation under the backward class category, for it being brought under the Scheduled Tribe category.

Subsequently, the petitioner sought and was granted promotion in accordance with law on the score that he was a Scheduled Tribe.

On January 29, 2025, the Regional Fire Officer issued a notice to Raju calling him for enquiry about his appointment as a candidate under Other Backward Classes, which has since been changed as Scheduled Tribe.

Challenging this notice, Raju contended that his employer has no jurisdiction to enquire into the caste status as to whether it is a Scheduled Caste or a Scheduled Tribe.

The court said that the caste status of a person is to be enquired into will be only under the Karnataka Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and Other Backward Classes (Reservation of Appointments, etc.) Act, 1990.

Justice Nagaprasanna noted that under the Act, the Karnataka Fire Force department is not one of those entities empowered to enquire into the caste status of any employee.

“The employer admittedly does not have the jurisdiction to enquire into the caste status of an employee. It should be by the District Caste Verification Committee only, is the settled principle of law as laid down by a plethora of judgments. On this short ground of the employer lacking jurisdiction to enquire into the caste status, the petition deserves to succeed,” the court said.