Moradabad (UP), February 11 Samajwadi Party's Bilari MLA, Mohammad Faheem Irfan, has faced a setback after his Other Backward Classes (OBC) caste certificate was cancelled by a verification committee in Moradabad district, Uttar Pradesh, officials said on Wednesday.
The committee, chaired by District Magistrate Anuj Singh, passed the order on February 6, following a thorough investigation, they said.
The panel concluded that Irfan's claim of belonging to the Jhoja caste was not clearly established, although he had obtained his OBC certificate based on that.
According to the order, the committee referred to a 1997-98 decision of the National Commission for Backward Classes (NCBC), which clarified that the Jhoja and Turk communities are not the same.
While Jhoja is included in the Central OBC list, Turk falls under a separate category and is treated as part of the General category.
The Bilari region is predominantly inhabited by members of the Turk community, the order noted.
During the investigation, it also emerged that Irfan's grandfather, Mohammad Islam, who had served as a lekhpal, was registered under the General category.
The OBC certificates of the MLA's uncle, Mohammad Usman, and his two daughters, Kumari Farheen Jahan and Samreen Jahan, have also been cancelled on similar grounds, officials said.
The order stated that Mohammad Faheem Irfan, son of late Mohammad Irfan and a resident of village Ibrahim Pur in Bilari tehsil, could not be proven to belong to the Jhoja caste under the OBC category, and therefore, extending benefits under that classification was deemed inappropriate.
Irfan has the option to challenge the district-level committee's decision before the Commissioner's court, a senior official said.
The matter dates back to July 19, 2024, when Vishwas Yadav, alias Lovely Yadav, a resident of Sihali village in Bilari, lodged a complaint with the NCBC.
Yadav had contested the 2015 district panchayat election against Irfan but lost. Irfan had allegedly used the OBC certificate to contest from Ward No. 37, which was reserved for OBC candidates. The dispute has continued since then.
In subsequent by-elections, Lovely defeated Irfan's younger brother, Mohammad Hasan, to win the district panchayat member seat.
The Bilari Assembly constituency was carved out of Kundarki in 2012. Irfan’s father, Haji Mohammad Irfan, was elected as an SP MLA but died in a road accident in 2016.
Faheem Irfan later won the by-election and became MLA.