Bombay High Court
Shri. Vasant S/O Vitthal ... vs Schedule Tribe Caste Certificate ... on 21 July, 2016
Bench: V.A. Naik
wp.3646.16
1
IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT BOMBAY
BENCH AT NAGPUR, NAGPUR.
...
WRIT PETITION NO. 3646 /2016
Vasant s/o Vitthal Vihirghare
Aged about 46 years
occupation Service
R/o Jatpura, Ward No.2
Chhota Bazar, Chandrapur. ..PETITIONER
v e r s u s
1) Schedule Tribe Caste Certificate
Scrutiny Committee
Through its member Secretary
Gadchiroli.
2) State Secretary
Maharashtra State Bharat Scouts & Guides
79, F-Road, Marine Drive, Mumbai.
3) District Secretary
Gondia, Bharat Scouts & Guides
District Office, Nagar Parishad
Marathi Primary School, Civil Lines, Gondia. ...RESPONDENTS
...........................................................................................................................
Mr. S.D.Khati, Advocate for petitioner
Mrs.Kalyani Deshpande, Assistant Government Pleader for
Respondent No.1
Mr. A.K. Bangadkar,Advocate for Respondent nos.2 and 3
............................................................................................................................
CORAM: SMT. VASANTI A. NAIK &
MRS. SWAPNA JOSHI, JJ
.
DATED : 21 July, 2016
st
wp.3646.16
ORAL JUDGMENT: (PER SMT.VASANTI A. NAIK, J.)
Rule. Rule made returnable forthwith. The petition is heard
finally at the stage of admission, with the consent of the learned counsel for
the parties.
By this Writ Petition, the petitioner seeks the protection of his
services on the post of peon/Sepoy, in view of the judgment of the Full Bench
of this Court, in the case of Arun Sonone vs. State of Maharashtra and
others reported in 2015 (1) Mh.L.J. 457.
The petitioner was appointed as a Peon/Sepoy by the
respondent no.2, on 21.6.1998, on a post that was earmarked for the
Scheduled Tribe. The petitioner claimed to belong to 'Halba' Scheduled Tribe
and the caste claim of the petitioner was referred to the Scrutiny Committee
for verification. The Scrutiny Committee has invalidated the claim of the
petitioner by the order dated 30.3.2016. The petitioner has not challenged the
said order in the instant petition but has only sought the protection of his
services in view of the judgment of the Full Bench. After the caste claim was
invalidated, by the impugned order dated 21.06.2016 the petitioner was
reverted to the post of Sepoy from the post of Senior Clerk, to which he was
promoted. The petitioner has not challenged the order of his reversion but has
only challenged a part of the order that directs the petitioner to return the
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difference in salary that was paid to the petitioner for the post of Junior
Clerk/ Senior Clerk.
Shri S.D. Khati, the learned counsel for the petitioner submitted
that the petitioner is not aggrieved by the order of the Scrutiny Committee or
by the order that reverts the petitioner to the post of Sepoy, on the
invalidation of his caste claim. It is stated that the has given up his caste
claim and the only prayer made by the petitioner is that the respondents
should not withdraw the salary that was paid to the petitioner on the
promotional posts of Junior Clerk and Senior Clerk.
On hearing the learned counsel for the parties and on a perusal
of the judgment of the Full Bench, reported in 2015 (1) Mh.L.J. 457, we find
that it would be necessary to grant the prayer made by the petitioner. Since the
petitioner was appointed before the cut off date and there is no observation in
the order of the Scrutiny Committee that the petitioner had fraudulently
secured the benefits meant for the 'Halba' Scheduled Tribe, the respondents
would not be entitled to recover the salary that was paid to the petitioner,
while he worked on the post of Junior Clerk and Senior Clerk. We find that
since the caste claim of the petitioner was invalidated as he was not able to
prove his caste claim on the basis of documents and affinity test, it would be
necessary to restrain the respondents from recovering the salary that was paid
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to the petitioner while he performed his duties as Junior Clerk and Senior
Clerk.
Hence, for the reasons aforesaid, the Writ petition is allowed. As
the petitioner has not challenged the order of reversion, we direct the
respondents not to recover the amount that was paid to the petitioners
toward salary while he worked as junior Clerk and Senior Clerk, merely
because his caste claim is invalidated.
Rule is made absolute in the aforesaid terms, with no order as
to costs.
JUDGE JUDGE
sahare
wp.3646.16
C E R T I F I C AT E
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Uploaded on: 26.07.2016.
