Chhattisgarh HC rejects Ajit Jogi's plea for stay on FIR in caste row

RAIPUR: Chhattisgarh high court on Tuesday rejected an application filed by former chief minister Ajit Jogi seeking interim relief to stay the proceedings of FIR lodged against him in August in Bilaspur district after a state government-appointed committee rejected his claim of being a tribal.
The bench of justice Rajendra Chandra Singh Samant said that petition has been brought at very premature stage and in view of the settled principles which is mentioned in the case laws cited herein the petition is not fit to grant any interim relief to the petitioner.The high court directed the respondents, the state government and others, to file replies. The case will now be listed after four weeks.
Former chief minister Ajit Jogi 's counsel Gautam Bhaduri argued that the FIR lodged on August 29 this year against former chief minister and Janata Congress Chhattisgarh (JCC) chief Ajit Jogi under sections of the Chhattisgarh Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and Other Backward Classes (Regulation of Certification of Social Status) Rules, 2013 was not in force in the year 1967.
Advocate general Satish Chandra Verma argued that the offence committed by the petitioner Ajit Jogi though initiated in the year 1967 was a continuation in such a offence and number of other certificates were obtained by the petitioner on the basis of his first certificate of 1967. He argued that the petitioner Ajit Jogi had taken benefit of false certificate for contesting election reserved for community of scheduled tribe. For the petitioner, Gary Mukhopadhyay also appeared while government advocate Ghanshaym Patel also appeared with Advocate General Verma.
Chairman of JCC spokesman Iqbal Ahmed Rizvi told TOI that the doors of double bench in high court and the apex court are still open for former chief minister Ajit Jogi against the decision of single bench of high court and we will take decision in this regard at the earliest.
A high-level caste scrutiny committee set up by the state government had earlier dismissed Ajit Jogi's claim of belonging to a Scheduled Tribe (ST) and cancelled his caste certificates. Subsequently, Ajit Jogi, who served as the first chief minister of Chhattisgarh, has been booked for allegedly fraudulently obtaining caste certificates.