0906wp2951.97-Judgment 1/3
IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT BOMBAY
NAGPUR BENCH, NAGPUR.
WRIT PETITION NO. 2951 OF 1997
PETITIONER :- Ku.Vandana D/o Pundlikrao Bokde, aged 24 years, Occupation Student doing job of Internship after completing B.A.M.S. from Vidarbha Ayurved Maha Vidyalaya,
Amravati, resident of Sarmaspura, Achalpur City, Taluka Achalpur, District Amravati.
...VERSUS...
RESPONDENTS :- 1) Scheduled Tribes Certificate Scrutiny Committee, Queens Garden, Maharashtra
State, Pune, through its Chairman.
2) State of Maharashtra, through its Secretary, Tribal Development Department,
Mantralaya, Bombay - 32.
Amended as per 3) Gangadhar Shastri Gune, Ayurved Courts Order of Mahavidyalaya Ahmednagar, through its 12/04/2005 Principal.
4) Maharashtra University of Health Sciences, Anandvalli, Gangapur Road, Nasik 422 013, through its Registrar.
5) The Scheduled Tribes Caste Certificate Scrutiny Committee through its Member Secretary, Near Irwin Chowk, Morshi Road, Amravati, Tahsil and District Amravati. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Mr.Akshay Sudame, counsel for petitioners.
Mr.N. R. Patil, Asstt. Govt.Pleader counsel for respondent No.2.
Mr.S.M.Puranik, counsel for respondent No.5.
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CORAM : SMT. VASANTI A. NAIK &
V. K. JADHAV, JJ.
DATED : 09.06.2014
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O R A L J U D G M E N T (Per Smt.Vasanti A. Naik, J.) By this petition, the petitioner seeks a writ of certiorari for quashing and setting aside the validity certificate granted to the petitioner on 25/06/1992 certifying that the petitioner belongs to Halba Koshti Caste. The petitioner seeks a further direction to the respondent No.5-Committee to decide the tribe claim of the petitioner afresh on merits in accordance with law.
The petitioner claims to belong to Halba Scheduled Tribe and had applied to the Scrutiny Committee for verification of his tribe claim. Though the petitioner claimed to belong to Halba Scheduled Tribe, the respondent No.1-Committee, on the basis of the law laid down by this Court in the case of State of Maharashtra v. Milind, reported in 2001(1) Mh.L.J. Page 1 granted a validity certificate to the petitioner certifying that the petitioner belongs to Halba Koshti Caste. The petitioner has challenged the validity certificate and has sought a remand of the matter to the respondent No.5-Committee for deciding the tribe claim of the petitioner afresh on merits. On hearing the learned counsel for the parties, it appears that the Scrutiny Committee was not justified in granting a certificate that the petitioner belongs to Halba Koshti Caste. The petitioner had applied for verification of his tribe claim. The petitioner had claimed to belong to Halba Scheduled Tribe on the basis of the documents of the pre-independence era. However, without considering the documents
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tendered by the petitioner and without deciding the tribe claim of the petitioner on merits, the Scrutiny Committee granted certificate to the petitioner of belonging to Halba Koshti Caste. The approach of the Scrutiny Committee in deciding the tribe claim of the petitioner was not proper. It was necessary for the Scrutiny Committee to have verified the tribe claim of the petitioner after scrutinizing the material tendered by the petitioner on record. The caste validity certificate dated 25/06/1992 is liable to be set aside and the matter is liable to be remanded to the respondent No.5-Committee for deciding the tribe claim of the petitioner afresh on merits in accordance with law. Hence, for the reasons aforesaid, the writ petition is allowed. The caste validity certificate dated 25/06/1992 is quashed and set aside. The matter is remanded to the respondent No.5-Committee for a de novo enquiry in the tribe claim of the petitioner. The respondent No.5-Committee should decide the tribe claim of the petitioner in accordance with law as early as possible and within a period of one year from the date of appearance of the petitioner before the respondent No.5-Scrutiny Committee. The petitioner undertakes to appear before the Scrutiny Committee on 01/07/2014 so that issuance of notice to the petitioner could be dispensed with.
Rule is made absolute in the aforesaid terms with no order as to costs.
JUDGE JUDGE
KHUNTE
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