Gujarat High Court sets aside Congress corporator’s caste certificate cancellation order

She won Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation’s Kubernagar ward by 101 votes in April this year and faced a criminal case over alleged forged school records. Then, in August, her caste certificate was cancelled by the state.

Now, Congress corporator Kalpana Navlekar-Kodekar has won relief from the Gujarat High Court, which on Tuesday quashed the cancellation order for being passed in “gross violation of natural justice”.

In an oral judgment, Justice Nisha M Thakore set aside the August 6 order passed by the Joint Director of the Developing Castes Welfare Department against Kodekar. The court considered submissions of Kodekar’s counsel Senior Advocate Yatin Oza and held that the authority had acted in “gross violation of principles of natural justice” and disregarded directions issued by the High Court in July during an earlier round of litigation.

During Tuesday’s hearing, Additional Advocate General Manisha Luvkumar tendered an unconditional apology on behalf of the Joint Director, who was personally present in court. The state relied on his affidavit dated September 23, in which he explained that the order had been “passed inadvertently and under a bona fide impression”, without extending an opportunity of hearing. The state assured the court that Kodekar would be heard, and a fresh decision taken in accordance with law.

Quashing the order that cancelled her caste certificate, the court restored the proceedings to the stage at which Kodekar could submit her reply to the show-cause notice. The judgement states, “The original proceedings are restored back to the stage of submitting reply by the petitioner to the show cause notice.” The court further ordered the authority to issue a fresh hearing notice and, after giving her adequate opportunity to present her case, pass a reasoned order in accordance with law. It directed that “the proceedings are directed to be concluded within a period of two months from the date of receipt of the copy of this order.”

The HC has not settled the dispute over the validity of Kodekar’s caste certificate. The court directed the competent authority, which must reconsider the matter, to “pass fresh reasoned order strictly in accordance with law,” after giving “ample opportunity” to Kodekar to present her case.

Kodekar won the Kubernagar ward seat in the civic elections held on April 26, securing 15,214 votes against 15,113 polled by her rival, Girivarshinh Bhavarsinh Shekhavat–also a respondent to the petition. She was declared elected from the general, unreserved seat.

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The dispute over her caste certificate began soon after the election. Shekhavat approached the election authorities seeking verification of the certificate and subsequently filed an election petition before the Ahmedabad Small Causes Court on May 4, 2026. The Joint Director issued show-cause notices on May 26, June 5 and June 9, asking Kodekar to respond to the questions raised over her certificate.

Kodekar approached the High Court, through advocate Anurag Rathor against the notices. On July 21, the single judge bench of Justice Nikhil S Kariel disposed of that petition as withdrawn after her counsel sought liberty to contest the notices before the authority.

The order stated that the court had not examined the merits of the dispute and directed the authority to provide an adequate opportunity to Kodekar before passing a reasoned decision. It also said that any adverse order should not be implemented for two weeks until it was served on her. However, the Joint Director cancelled her caste certificate on August 6.

Kodekar returned to the High Court, contending that the authority had proceeded without giving her the hearing required under the July 21 order.

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The counsel for Shekhavat, Advocate CB Upadhyay did not dispute that the August 6 order had been passed without hearing but argued that Kodekar had not pointed out the correct facts during the earlier proceedings.

The court, however, stated that the Joint Director’s explanation was “not accepted”. Referring to the earlier order of July, the HC said the directions to provide adequate hearing and pass a reasoned order were “clear and should have been understood by the officer”.

The court quashed the order and cautioned the Joint Director to follow due process in future. It directed Kodekar to appear “without fail” on the date fixed through a fresh notice and required the authority to consider the submissions of the parties before reaching a new decision. The HC has directed that any fresh adverse order would be implemented for two weeks until it is served on her.

The caste-certificate proceedings have unfolded alongside a separate criminal case linked to allegations over the Congress leader’s school records. On May 5, Kodekar was booked at Krushnanagar police station under Sections 336(2) and 340(2) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita after a complaint alleged that a school-leaving certificate attached to her election affidavit was forged. The complaint was filed by Ashokkumar Kantilal Patel, managing trustee of Bhavna Education Trust, which runs Krushnanagar Vidyavihar High School. According to the complaint, an inquiry found a discrepancy between the general-register and leaving-certificate numbers and no record of Kodekar having left the school on the date mentioned.