Goemkarponn Desk
High Court has declared the OBC certificate issued to AAP ZP member Hanzel Fernandes by the Deputy Collector as invalid and void ab initio(having no legal effect from inception).
Fernandes had contested the Benaulim ZP seat reserved for OBC category and won the same.
“ The Deputy Collector’s caste certificates dated 05.03.2020, 12.12.2013 and 04.06.2010 declaring Respondent No.6 as belonging to the OBC category are declared as invalid and void ab initio,” states the order.
The court also did not accede to request by Fernandes to stay the order for a period of six weeks. The court pointed out in its order that Christian Mesta is not yet included in the State OBC list.
After the High Court’s pronounced its order in the matter, Hanzel’s legal counsel had applied for a stay for a period of six weeks. The Court, however, did not accede to the request, observing “after concluding that the respondent does not belong to the class that is included in the State list of OBC, we do not think that it would be appropriate to stay our judgment and order. Accordingly, the request for a stay is not acceded to”.
The AAP Benaulim candidate had made history when he scripted a victory in the Christian-dominated constituency in the 2020 polls, defeating candidates fielded by the Congress and the Nationalist Congress party (NCP)
