High Court Reserves Order on Congress Leader Rashmi Barve's Caste Validity Certificate Revocation Petition

Nagpur: The Nagpur bench of the Bombay High Court on Thursday reserved its order on a petition filed by Congress leader Rashmi Barve against an order revoking her membership of the Chambhar Scheduled Caste and Zilla Parishad. No date was given for announcing the decision.

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Barve has challenged the controversial orders. The final hearing in the case concluded on May 6 before justices Avinash Gharote and Mukulika Katkar. The court had then fixed Thursday as the date for obtaining the necessary information as required. When the matter came up for hearing on Thursday, the court said it was reserving the verdict.

Vaishali Devia, a resident of Godegaon Tekadi in Parshivani taluka, had complained to the district caste certificate verification committee against Barve's caste validity certificate. The committee took cognisance of the complaint and cancelled Barve's caste validity certificate on March 28. On April 2, the divisional commissioner revoked her Zilla Parishad membership on the basis of the order. The Congress had fielded Rashmi Barve from Ramtek constituency, which is reserved for Scheduled Castes, for the Lok Sabha polls. 

However, her nomination papers for the Lok Sabha elections were cancelled by the returning officer as the caste validity certificate was cancelled. So she could not contest the Lok Sabha elections. She had approached the Supreme Court to uphold her nomination papers, but her demand was not met.