Bombay High Court
Ku. Sonal Prakash Bakade vs Joint Commissioner And Vice ... on 22 August, 2016
Bench: B.R. Gavai
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IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT BOMBAY
NAGPUR BENCH AT NAGPUR
WRIT PETITION NO.289/2016
Ku. Sonal Prakash Bakade,
aged about 27 years, occ. Student,
r/o 13-A, Padam Saurabh Colony,
Dr. Vivek Gohad Galli, Shegaon-
Rahatgaon Road, Amravati-444604 .....PETITIONER
...V E R S U S...
Joint Commissioner and Vice Chairman,
Scheduled Tribe Caste Certificate
Scrutiny Committee, Irwin Chowk,
Amravati. ...RESPONDENT
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Mr. S. R. Narnaware, Advocate for petitioner.
Mrs. N. Mehta, A.G.P. for respondent-State.
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CORAM:- B. R. GAVAI & V. M. DESHPAND E, JJ.
DATED :- AUGUST 22, 2016
ORAL JUDGMENT (Per : B. R. GAVAI, J.)
1. Rule. Rule returnable forthwith. Heard finally by consent
of the parties.
2. The petitioner has approached this Court, being aggrieved
by order dated 15.07.2005 thereby rejecting the claim of the
petitioner of belonging to Halbi-Scheduled Tribe. The learned A.G.P.
has raised a preliminary objection on the ground that the petitioner
has approached after a period of 10 years and as such the petition is
liable to be dismissed on the ground of delay and laches alone.
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3. The petitioner has given an explanation stating therein
that the petitioner being a meritorious candidate, after rejection of
her claim she was pursuing her studies on her own merits. It is
submitted that after completion of graduate and post graduate
degree, the petitioner is now pursuing her Ph.D. in the faculty of
Physics. It is submitted that the petitioner would now require the
caste certificate/validity certificate for applying for the job.
4.
We find that merely because for the last 10 years the
petitioner has not challenged the order of the Scrutiny Committee,
that cannot be a ground for closing down the doors of this Court to
the petitioner. In any case, it is to be noted that this Court in the
case of Priya d/o Pravin Parate ..vs.. Scheduled Tribes Caste
Certificates Scrutiny committee Nagpur and others; 2013 (1)
Mh.L.J. 180, after relying on the judgment of the Apex Court in the
case of Anand..vs..Committee for Scrutiny and Verification of
Tribe Claims and others; 2016 (6) Mh.L.J. 919 has, for the first
time, decided an identical petition on 4/10/2012. It is to be noted
that the facts in the case of Priya Parate (supra) and in the present
case are almost identical. The petitioner therein so also the petitioner
herein belong to the same town i.e. Achalpur.
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5. In that view of the matter, we find that if the petitioner
comes across a judgment of this Court deciding the matter in
identical facts, merely because she has approached belatedly, it
should not be a ground to non suit her.
6. Learned A.G.P. fairly concedes that insofar as the merits
of the matter are concerned, case of the present petitioner is similar
to that of Priya Parate (supra).
7. While deciding Priya Parate's case, after taking into
consideration judgment in the case of Anand, (supra) this Court has,
in unequivocal terms, held that the pre-independence documents will
have more probative value. It has been held that merely because a
candidate fails in the affinity test, the pre-independence documents
cannot be allowed to be ignored.
8. Insofar as the reasoning given by the Scrutiny Committee
regarding occupation of the petitioner's forefathers being written as
Weaver (Koshti) is concerned, the Division Bench relying on the
Gazetteer for Amravati District as well as from the authority of R. V.
Russell on Tribes and Castes of the Central Provinces of India
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published in 1916, found that the original Halba/Halbi who had
migrated from Bastar to various parts of Berrar including Elichpur
had take the profession of weaving. It was further held that merely
because some stray entries as Koshti are recorded in respect of the
caste, that cannot be considered contrary to their claim of belonging
to Halba-Scheduled Tribe.
9. In the present case, the petitioner has placed on record
the following documents, which are pre-Constitution documents in
support of her claim of belonging to Halba/Halbi-Scheduled Tribe.
(i) Certificate issued in the name of Nago Baliramji
Bakade (grandfather of petitioner) issued by Municipal Council
Primary Marathi School, Abbaspura, Ilichpur. The said
document shows the petitioner's grandfather's caste as Halbi.
The said document is of the year 1929.
(ii) The second document is also issued in the name of
grandfather of the petitioner which shows his date of birth to be
01.09.1918 and admission being taken on 24.09.1925. The
said document also records the caste to be Halbi.
(iii) The third document is of Ramchandra Baliram
Bakade (real brother of petitioner's grandfather). The said
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document is TC issued by Municipal Council Marathi Primary
School, Abbaspura, Achalpur. It shows that the said
Ramchandra has passed 4th standard examination in the year
1940. His caste is shown as Halbi.
(iv) The fourth document also relates to Ramchandra,
which shows his date of birth as 29.03.1930 and admission in
the school to be of the year 1936. The said document also
shows the caste to be Halbi.
(v) This fifth document is in the name of Shankar
Baliramji Bakde (real brother of grandfather of petitioner). This
TC was issued by Municipal Council Marathi Primary School,
Abbaspura, Achalpur. It shows that the said Shankar had
passed 4th standard examination in the year 1945. The caste
again shown as Halbi.
(vi) The next document is also in the name of said
Shankar and it shows his year of birth as 1933. Date of
admission in the school is shown on 03.04.1940. This
document also shows his caste to be Halbi.
It can thus clearly be seen that there are various
documents pertaining to the petitioner's grandfather and his two real
brothers of the period prior to 1950. As such, we find that the
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documentary evidence clearly establishes the claim of the petitioner.
We find that the present case is squarely covered by Priya Parate
(supra).
10. In view of above, the writ petition is allowed. Rule is
made absolute in terms of prayer clause (i) of the petition. The
respondent-Committee is directed to issue Caste Validity Certificate,
validating the caste of the petitioner, within a period of four weeks
from today.
No order as to costs.
(V. M. Deshpande, J.) (B. R. Gavai, J.)
kahale
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