The Chhattisgarh police have registered a case against former Chief Minister Ajit Jogi in Bilaspur after a government-appointed panel reached to a conclusion that he is not a Tribal. The case was registered under Section 10-1 of Chhattisgarh Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and Backward Classes (Regulation of Certification of Social Status) Rules, 2013. “We have registered a case and started investigating it,” Bilaspur Superintendent of Police Prashant Agarwal said.
On Thursday, the writ was presented in the High Court on behalf of Ajit Jogi. At present, Jogi represents Marwahi in the state Assembly, which is a reserved seat for tribal communities, in the present scenario Jogi is likely to lose it.
“We have filed a writ petition against the order of high powered committee and we will mention the FIR [first information report] also in the writ petition,” Ajit Jogi’s son Amit Jogi said. “Secondly, the government is totally biased and doing vendetta politics against my father. We will fight the battle as per law and challenge everything in the court.”
The committee headed by Secretary of Department of Primitive Caste DD Singh was set up on the High Court’s directions in 2018. It concluded investigations on August 21, and directed the collector of Bilaspur district to take action against Jogi.
Jogi’s tribal status was also challenged in the High Court in 2001 by BJP leader and former National Commission for Scheduled Tribes Chairperson, Nand Kumar Sai, and a complainantSant Kumar Netam. The court ruled that the National Commission for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes do not have the power to conduct inquiries into such matters. Netam approached the Supreme Court on October 13, 2011. The top court decided that a high-powered committee would investigate the case.
The committee revoked Jogi’s caste certificates in June 2017. The former chief minister then challenged this decision in High Court, and on February 21, 2018, the court directed the government to reconstitute the panel.
