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IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT BOMBAY
NAGPUR BENCH, NAGPUR
Writ Petition No.720 of 2015
And
Writ Petition No.1338 of 2015
Writ Petition No.720 of 2015
Sandhya d/o Gulabrao Sonkusare,
Aged 34 years,
Occupation - Service,
Residing at C/o Gulabrao Govindrao
Sonkusare, Vishwanath Penting Galli,
Near Shri Eknathrao Bhivapure
House, Gadnegar, Amravati,
Dist. Amravati. ... Petitioner
Versus
1. State of Maharashtra,
through its Secretary,
Tribal Development Department,
Mantralaya, Mumbai - 400 032.
2. Scheduled Tribe Certificate
Scrutiny Committee,
Amravati Division, Amravati,
through its Member Secretary,
having its Office at Irwin Chowk,
Amravati, Dist. Amravati.
2. Zilla Parishad, Amravati,
through its Chief Executive
Officer, Amravati,
Dist. Amravati.
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4. Education Officer (Primary),
Zilla Parishad, Amravati. ... Respondents
Shri G.G. Mishra, Advocate for Petitioner.
Ms M.H. Deshmukh, Assistant Government Pleader for
Respondent Nos.1 and 2.
Writ Petition No.1338 of 2015
Sunil Gulabrao Sonkusare,
Aged about 42 years,
Occupation - Service as
District Seed Certification Officer,
Akola,
Resident of Watika No.4,
Malkapur Road, Akola,
Dist. Akola. ... Petitioner
Versus
1. State of Maharashtra,
through its Secretary,
Ministry of Agriculture Department,
Mantralaya,
Mumbai - 400 032.
2. Scheduled Tribe Caste Certificate
Scrutiny Committee, Amravati Division,
through its Chairman, Tiwsa Gin
Compound, Morshi Road,
Amravati.
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3. Commissionerate of Agriculture,
Pune.
4. Joint Director of Agriculture,
Amravati Division, Amravati. ... Respondents
Shri N.C. Phadnis, Advocate for Petitioner.
Ms M.H. Deshmukh, Assistant Government Pleader for
Respondents.
Coram : R.K. Deshpande & M.G. Giratkar, JJ.
Date : 15th November, 2017 Oral Judgment (Per R.K. Deshpande, J.) :
1. The challenge in both these petitions is to the orders of invalidation of the caste claim of the petitioners, who are the real brother and sister, for 'Halba'/'Halbi', Scheduled Tribe Category, which is an entry at Serial No.19 in the Constitution (Scheduled Tribes) Order, 1950.
2. Before the Committee, total 21 documents were produced on record, which included two conditional validity certificates issued in the name of Pradip Gulabrao Sonkusare and ::: Uploaded on - 20/11/2017 ::: Downloaded on - 21/11/2017 01:13:19 ::: 4 wp720.1338.15.odt Sunil Gulabrao Sonkusare, and one order cancelling the conditional certificate issued to Sunil Gulabrao Sonkusare. All these three documents were issued pending the decision of the Apex Court in the case of State of Maharashtra v. Milind and others, reported in 2001(1) Mh.L.J. 1, showing that the claim of these persons for 'Halba-Koshti' is held to be valid subject to the decision of the Apex Court.
3. The other eighteen documents produced on record consistently show the caste of the petitioners or their blood relatives as well as maternal relatives as 'Halbi'. The oldest document is in the name of one Gulabrao Govindrao Sonkusare, the father of the petitioners, in which the entry 'Halbi' is recorded in the caste column on 10-4-1943. The another document is of 20-9-1944, which is the registered purchase-deed in the name of Gulab Govinda.
4. The Committee has taken into consideration the extract of birth register in the name of one Govinda Sawaipura, in which ::: Uploaded on - 20/11/2017 ::: Downloaded on - 21/11/2017 01:13:19 ::: 5 wp720.1338.15.odt the caste is recorded as 'Koshti' on 19/23-3-1920. The another document is in the name of one Madhukar Govinda, the uncle of the petitioners, and it is the extract of school admission register, in which the caste is recorded as 'Koshti' on 13-4-1955. The third document is in the name of Bapurao Govind, said to be the uncle of the petitioners, and it is the extract of school admission register, in which the entry 'Koshti' is recorded on 8-4-1942. The Committee has applied the affinity test and the finding is recorded that the petitioners have failed to establish the affinity test. Hence, the orders impugned are passed rejecting the claim of the petitioners for 'Halba'/'Halbi', Scheduled Tribe Category.
5. We have gone through the orders passed by the Committee and also the documents placed on record. We have also noted that after the third remand by this Court, the Committee has passed the orders, which are the subject-matter of challenge in these petitioners. The important finding to be considered by this Court is in respect of the extract of birth register in the name of one Govinda Sawaipura, in which the ::: Uploaded on - 20/11/2017 ::: Downloaded on - 21/11/2017 01:13:19 ::: 6 wp720.1338.15.odt caste is recorded as 'Koshti' on 19/23-6-1920. The petitioner in Writ Petition No.1338 of 2015 was not supplied with the copy of the said extract along with the police vigilance cell report and there is no reference to it. The petitioner in Writ Petition No.720 of 2015 was served with the copy of the said extract, which we found to be totally ineligible. The petitioners have denied that they are in any manner related to Govind, whose full name is not shown. Hence, the said entry cannot be relied upon for two reasons - (a) that the copy of entry was not served upon the petitioners and no explanation was called from them, and
(b) that there is nothing to show that the petitioners are in any way in blood relation with 'Govind Koshti, Sawaipura'.
6. We, therefore, passed an order on 8-11-2017 directing the Committee to produce the original record, more particularly this extract in the name of Govinda Sawaipura. We find the name of 'Govind Koshti Sawaipura' handwritten in the said document along with the date '19/23-6-1920'. The entry in the original record produced before us is certified to be a true copy ::: Uploaded on - 20/11/2017 ::: Downloaded on - 21/11/2017 01:13:19 ::: 7 wp720.1338.15.odt by the Deputy Registrar, Birth and Death, Municipal Council, Achalpur, and the name 'Govinda Koshti, Sawaipura' is not found in it.
7. In the remaining documents, the oldest document is of 10-4-1943, which is the school leaving certificate and the extract of the school admission register in the name of Gulabrao. The another document is the purchase-deed dated 20-9-1944 in the name of the father of the petitioners. In respect of the entry 'Koshti' dated 13-4-1945 in the name of Madhukar Govinda in the extract of the school admission register, the explanation of the petitioners was that the oldest entry of 10-4-1943 shows the caste 'Halbi' and in the light of that, the caste of Madhukar Govinda could not have been registered as 'Koshti' and the document being in subsequent in point of time, will have to be ignored. Though the orders refer to the entry 'Koshti' made in the name of Bapurao Govind on 8-4-1942, neither the police vigilance cell report makes any reference to that entry, nor the petitioners were called upon to furnish an explanation in respect ::: Uploaded on - 20/11/2017 ::: Downloaded on - 21/11/2017 01:13:19 ::: 8 wp720.1338.15.odt of it.
8. In view of the fact that the oldest valid document in the name of the father of the petitioners being of 10-4-1943 showing the caste as 'Halbi', the Committee could not have rejected it by applying the affinity test. In view of the decision of the Apex Court in the case of Anand v. Committee for Scrutiny and Verification of Tribe Claims and others, reported in (2012) 1 SCC 113, the primacy is required to be given to the documents of pre-Independence period and the affinity test has to be used merely as a corroborative evidence. We, therefore, find that the Committee could not have rejected the claim of the petitioner as 'Halbi', Scheduled Tribe Category.
9. In view of above, we allow both these petitions and quash and set aside the orders dated 9-1-2015 passed by the Scheduled Tribe Certificate Scrutiny Committee, Amravati Division, Amravati, and hold that the petitioners have established their claim for 'Halbi'/'Halbi', Scheduled Tribe ::: Uploaded on - 20/11/2017 ::: Downloaded on - 21/11/2017 01:13:19 ::: 9 wp720.1338.15.odt Category, which is Entry No.19 in the Constitution (Scheduled Tribes) Order, 1950. The Committee is directed to issue a caste validity certificate in the name of the petitioners within a period of one month from the date of producing the copy of this judgment by the petitioners before it.
10. Rule is made absolute in above terms. No order as to costs.
(M.G. Giratkar, J.) (R.K. Deshpande, J.)
Jalit, PA/Lanjewar, PS
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