New Delhi: In an exceptional move aimed at safeguarding the academic future of a minor girl, the Supreme Court on Monday allowed the issuance of a Scheduled Caste (SC) certificate based on her mother’s caste, even though the Court is yet to decide multiple petitions challenging the long-standing rule that a child inherits the father’s caste.

A bench of Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi declined to interfere with a Madras High Court order directing authorities to grant the certificate to the girl from Puducherry. The bench said it was doing so solely to ensure that her education was not jeopardised.

“We are keeping the question of law open,” the bench clarified.

However, the CJI’s subsequent observation is likely to trigger heated debate. He remarked, “With changing times, why should a caste certificate be not issued based on the mother's caste?”
If applied broadly, the reasoning could open the door for children born to SC mothers and upper-caste fathers, and raised in non-SC family environments, to claim SC certificates.

The case began when the girl’s mother sought SC certificates for her three children, arguing that she belonged to the Hindu Adi Dravida community and that her husband had been residing with her at her parental home since their marriage. She submitted that her parents and grandparents were also members of the same SC community.

Under existing rules, outlined in presidential notifications dated March 5, 1964, and February 17, 2002, along with Home Ministry instructions, a person’s eligibility for a caste certificate is determined primarily by the father’s caste and his residence within the jurisdiction of the state or Union Territory.

The Supreme Court’s decision, while limited to this case, may set the stage for a wider examination of whether maternal caste can be the basis for such certificates in the future.