I. A. No. 4 of 2025
Patna High Court CWJC No.9935 of 2025(5) dt.17-02-2026
1. The present Interlocutory Application is filed by
one Ms. Priya Das, praying that she be impleaded as an
intervener in the present writ petition. The factual aspects of the
application, as averred by the applicant, are as follows:
The applicant describes herself as a public-spirited
individual and social worker, serving as the Patron of the Tribal
Social Welfare Trust, a registered public charitable organization
focused on the upliftment and protection of the rights of
Scheduled Tribes across India. She claims to have initiated
multiple complaints and representations regarding the
petitioner’s alleged fraudulent use of a Scheduled Tribe (ST)
caste certificate to secure employment and subsequent benefits
in the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), including his
initial appointment as Assistant Environmental Engineer in 1997
and his later role as Member Secretary in 2023. These
complaints were lodged with bodies such as the National
Commission for Scheduled Tribes (NCST), Central Vigilance
Commission (CVC), Prime Minister’s Office (PMO), and the
General Administration Department (GAD), Bihar, between
2023 and 2025, allegedly leading to the caste verification
proceedings challenged in the main writ petition. The applicant
asserts that the petitioner’s caste certificate, declaring him as
Patna High Court CWJC No.9935 of 2025(5) dt.17-02-2026
belonging to the “Lohar” caste under ST, was provisional and
invalidated by Bihar Government Circular No. 43 dated
23.03.1996, following the Supreme Court’s judgment in
Nityanand Sharma v. State of Bihar, (1996) 3 SCC 576, yet he
continued to avail benefits. She highlights her role in pursuing
these complaints, including appearances before NCST and
representations to the Ministry of Environment, Forest and
Climate Change (MoEFCC), and argues that her intervention is
necessary in public interest to safeguard ST rights from misuse.
