Chhattisgarh police files FIR against Ajit Jogi in his tribal status row

RAIPUR: Chhattisgarh police registered an FIR against regional party Janata Congress founder and former chief minister Ajit Jogi on Thursday. The police charged him with non-bailable warrant after the state high power caste scrutiny committee rejected his claim of being a tribal and concluded that he is not entitled to avail benefits meant for the scheduled tribe communities.
The FIR was lodged after tehsildar TR Bharadwaj went to civil lines police station and submitted a report on behalf of Bilaspur district collector, detailing the findings of the high power caste scrutiny committee and sought registering an offence over his caste issue.
The police lodged the FIR under section 10-1 of Chhattisgarh SC, ST OBC (Regulation of certification of social status) Act 2013.
A high power caste scrutiny committee, headed by tribal welfare department secretary DD Singh, had conducted an inquiry into the complaint over former chief minister Ajit jogi’s tribal status and submitted its report two days ago. The panel had rejected his claim of being a tribal belonging to Kanwar tribal community and had recommended cancellation of all caste certificates issued to him earlier.
Meanwhile, Ajit Jogi had moved the high court challenging the report of the high power caste scrutiny committee; raising more than a dozen points.
After committee’s report came in, Ajit Jogi’s son and former legislator, Amit Jogi, went to public saying that the caste scrutiny panel had visited Jogi’s native village at Jogisar and nearby area to gather statements from the locals but these statements were not shown to them so that they can file their reply to these contentions. Besides, the gram sabha of village Jogisar had adopted a resolution stating that Ajit Jogi belonged to Kanwar tribe but the gram Panchayat secretary rejected this resolution.
The row over Ajit Jogi's caste began about three decades ago during undivided Madhya Pradesh - almost immediately after he quit the Indian Administrative Services (IAS) and got elected to the Rajya Sabha as a Congress member.
According to Jogi, no one had raised any question on his caste till 1986, until he was in government service. After he entered Rajya Sabha, the first case over his caste was filed in Indore bench of the Madhya Pradesh high court.But within a year, the petition was dismissed without issuing any notice to Jogi.
After the formation of Chhattisgarh, Ajit contested byelection from Marwahi (ST) constituency to become a member of the state assembly and won the election with an impressive margin. Later, Sant Kumar Netam filed a case challenging Jogi's caste status and the case lingered on for long from one court to another with Jogi getting a stay from time to time.
The complainant Sant Kumar Netam had moved the national commission for scheduled tribes, which issued a notice to the former chief minister questioning his caste status. However, Jogi moved the high court, which decided that the national commission for scheduled caste has no powers to decide on caste and to conduct inquiries into such matter. The complainant later moved the Supreme Court on October 13, 2011; the apex court decided that a high-power caste scrutiny committee would investigate the matter.