(1) Any person belonging to any of the Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes or Backward Classes may in order to claim the benefit of any reservation provided to such Castes, Tribes or Classes either for any public appointment or for admission into any educational institution in the State or outside the State for the students of the State or any other benefit under any special provisions made under Clause (4) of Article 15 of the Constitution of India or for the purpose of contesting for elective post in any local authority or for elective posts in the Co-operative Institutions, make an application in such form and in such manner as may be prescribed to the competent authority for the issue of a community certificate.
(2) Any person belonging to a Scheduled Tribe may, for the purpose of claiming any benefit or protection meant for Scheduled Tribes under any notification, direction or regulation made under the Fifth Schedule to the Constitution of India or under any Act, Rule, Regulation or Order for the time being in force in the Scheduled Areas, make an application in such form and in such manner as may be prescribed to the competent authority for the issue of community certificate.
Explanation: - For the purposes of this section and section 13, Scheduled Areas’ means the areas as defined in paragraph 6 to the Schedule to the Constitution.
4. Community Certificate to be issued by competent authority - (1) The Competent Authority may, on an application made to it under section 3, satisfy itself about the genuineness or otherwise of the claim made therein and 4 thereafter issue a community certificate within such period and in such form as may be prescribed or reject the application for reasons to be recorded in writing. A certificate in regard to community issued by any person, officer or authority other than the competent authority shall be invalid.
(2) Before the issue or rejection of a certificate under sub-section (1) the competent authority shall follow such procedure as may be prescribed.
5. Cancellation of the false community certificate - (1) Where, before, or after the commencement of this Act a person not belonging to any of the Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes or Backward Classes has obtained a false Community Certificate to the effect that either himself or his children belongs to such Castes, Tribes or Classes, the District Collector may either suo-motu or on a written complaint by any person, call for the record and enquire into the correctness of such certificate and if he is of the opinion that the certificate was obtained fraudulently, he shall, by notification, cancel the certificate after giving the person concerned an opportunity of making representation:
Provided that where an enquiry into the genuineness of a community certificate issued prior to the commencement of this Act has commenced and is pending at such commencement, the record thereof shall be transferred by the concerned authority to the District Collector and he shall continue the enquiry and conclude the same under this sub-section.
(2) The powers of the nature referred to in sub-section (1) may also be exercised by the Government.
6. Burden of Proof- Where an application is made to the competent authority under section 3 for the issue of a community certificate in respect of Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes or Backward Classes or in any enquiry conducted by the competent authority or the authority empowered to cancel the community certificate or the appellate authority under this Act or in any trial or offence under this Act, the burden of proving that he belongs to such Caste, Tribe or Class shall be on the claimant.
7. Appeal and review - (1) Any person aggrieved by an order passed under sub-section (1) of section 4 by the competent authority rejecting an application made to it under section 3 may within thirty days from the date of receipt of such order, appeal to the District Collector and the District Collector may after giving the appellant an opportunity of being heard either confirm the order appealed against or set aside the said order and direct the competent authority to issue a community certificate.
(2) Any person aggrieved by an order passed under section 5, by the District Collector may, within thirty days from the date of publication of such order in the Andhra pradesh Gazette, appeal to the Government and the Government may, after giving the appellant an opportunity of being heard and subject to such rules as may be prescribed, confirm or set aside the order appealed against.
(3) The Government may, on an application received from any person aggrieved by an order passed by the Government under sub-section (2) of section 5, within thirty days of the publication of that order in the Andhra pradesh Gazette, review any such order if it was passed by them under any mistake, whether of fact or law or in ignorance of any material fact.
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(4) Pending disposal of an appeal under sub-section (2) or review under sub-section (3), it shall be competent for the Government to stay the operation of the order against which an appeal or review, as the case may be, is filed.
8. Power of revision by Government - (1) The Government may, at any time, either suo-motu or on an application made to them within the prescribed period, call for and examine the record, relating to any decision made or order passed by any person, officer or authority subordinate to them for the purpose of satisfying themselves as to the legality, regularity or propriety of such decision or order and if, in any case it appears to the Government that any such decision or ordershould be modified, annulled, reversed or remitted for reconsideration, they may pass orders accordingly:
Provided that the Government shall not pass any order prejudicial to any party unless such party has had an opportunity of making a representation.
(2) The Government may stay the execution of any such decision or order pending the exercise of their powers under sub-section (1) in respect thereof.