Petition in Bombay HC seeks verification of caste certificate of Sameer Wankhede

A petition has been filed in the Bombay high court (HC) seeking directions to the caste scrutiny committee to verify the caste certificate of Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) zonal director Sameer Wankhede and the Union Public Services Commission (UPSC) to terminate the officer’s services if the scrutiny panel finds that he has misused the Scheduled Caste (SC) status of his father.

The petition claims that the SC status was relinquished after Wankhede’s Dnyandev got married to a Muslim woman. The petition is expected to come up for hearing in due course.

The petition filed by social activist Ashok Mahadev Kamble through advocate Nitin Satpute has stated that Wankhede entered civil service by hiding the fact that he was a Muslim and by misrepresenting his caste/religion. The petition alleges that Wankhede had not disclosed his real caste and religion while being inducted into the Indian Revenue Service (IRS) in the SC category.

Justifying his claim, Kamble has stated that as Wankhede’s father Dnyandev had converted to Islam and taken the name Dawood to get married to Zaheeda Bano, Wankhede could not avail benefits meant for the SC community. Kamble has relied upon various documents that show that the NCB officer had been a Muslim, born to Dawood Kachru Wankhede and Zaheda Bano.

The petition further stated that while a declaration stating a change in Dawood’s name was made in 1993, there was no change made to his religion. It also claimed that the sub-registrar had corrected Dawood’s name to Dnyandev in the NCB officer’s birth certificate so that the latter could get an admission in college through the SC quota.

Kamble has also referred to Wankhede’s marriage to Dr Shabana Qureshi by performing the nikah ceremony and stated that if the NCB officer was not a Muslim, he could not have married a girl from the community.

In light of these averments, the petition has Wankhede’s dismissal from civil service. It also sought directions to the scrutiny committee to ascertain the NCB officer’s caste claim and legal action against him based on the written complaint submitted by the petitioner to the panel.

The petition has also sought revocation and cancellation of Wankhede’s appointment in civil services after verifying his caste and religion with further directions to take criminal action against him for misleading and providing false information.