RAIPUR:
Chhattisgarh
high court has granted permission to former chief minister and Janata Congress Chhattisgarh (JCC) supremo
Ajit Jogi
to inspect the records of high-powered caste scrutiny committee and obtain certified copies of the documents while hearing the interim application of the petition challenging decision of the committee, set up by the state government, which had dismissed Ajit Jogi's claim of belonging to a Scheduled Tribe (ST) and cancelled his caste certificates in August, 23, 2019.
The bench of Justice Rajendra Chandra Singh Samant on Monday has granted permission to the petitioner and former chief minister Ajit Jogi to inspect the records of high-powered caste scrutiny committee and obtain certified copies of the documents, the petitioner's counsel Vivek Sharma told TOI. The petitioner's counsels Mark Mukhopadhyay and Vivek Sharma sought permission of the high court to inspect the original record of the committee, which had been presented before the court.
The state counsel deputy advocate general Devendra Pratap Singh, along with public prosecutors Adil Minhaj and Ghanshyam Patel, filed written objection and submitted the production of record for court's perusal, and strongly advocated that the application be rejected.
After due consideration on the submissions made from both the sides, the bench allowed the interim application of former chief minister Ajit Jogi. The bench of justice Samant granted permission for inspection of record of the committee that had been produced before the HC.
The high court stated in its order that the petitioner former chief minister Ajit Jogi shall also be at liberty to file application for obtaining certified copies of the documents present in the record.
Besides, the interveners' counsel Sandeep also prayed for permission for inspection of record may also be granted to the interveners. Meanwhile, the petitioner's counsels also prayed for more time to file a rejoinder on the basis of the additional facts which may be revealed to him on inspection of the record of the committee.
Upon this, the high court ordered that the petitioner will have time to file its rejoinder before November 27, 2019, the next date of hearing and final arguments shall be positively heard on the next date of hearing. On October 22 this year, Chhattisgarh high court had dismissed the intervention applications of the three interveners National Commission for Scheduled Tribes (NCST) and two others Sant Kumar Netam and Dhan Singh Kankwar in connection with the petition challenging the decision of the committee, set up by the Congress government that rejected former CM Ajit Jogi's claim of being a tribal on August, 23, 2019.
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