RTE School Admission – Insistence on child’s late father’s caste certificate

ificate

Arohee is the daughter of the petitioner and late Yogesh – both belong to Dhangar Nomadic Tribe.

The petitioner applied for admission of her daughter under RTE Act in the Aditya English Medium School, Pune and produced her mother’s caste certificate.  The Taluka Committee rejected the application on the ground that the caste certificate was not valid. It was found that the caste certificate of father was not produced.  The said order was confirmed by the Education Officer – first appellate authority and the Deputy Director of Education.

In the considered view of this Court, in the peculiar circumstances of the case, the Authorities ought to have granted admission to Arohee under RTE quota on the basis of the caste certificate of the mother of the child, without insisting for the production of the documents of the father of the child, construing the petitioner to be the sole parent of the child. In any event, the School Leaving Certificate of the father of the child lent requisite assurance regarding the caste of the father of the child and, resultantly, that of the child. Thus, the petition deserves to be allowed.

The insistence on the child being recognized, in all circumstances, solely by the caste of her father is not sustainable. It is not an immutable rule of law that, the child whatever the circumstances may be, must take the caste of her father. In a given set of circumstances, where the child suffers from the disadvantages and discriminations, which the mother of the child has suffered, the child may legitimately take the caste of her mother

Judgment dated 22.7.2026 of the High Court of Bombay in Writ Petition No.7647 of 2026 of Ranjana Yogesh Jadhav  Vs.  Principal Secretary and others