Mayur Sanjay Suryawanshi Through ... vs The State Of Maharashtra And ...
2016 Latest Caselaw 2795 Bom

                                                  {1}
                                                                             WP 5745.16.odt

                 IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE OF BOMBAY




                                                                                    
                            BENCH AT AURANGABAD

                          WRIT PETITION NO. 5745 OF 2016




                                                            
     Mayur S/o Sanjay Suryawanshi
     minor, occu: student through
     father & Natural Guardian
     Sanjay S/o Shivdas Suryawanshi




                                                           
     age: 48 years, occu: service,
     R/o Chicholi, tq. Yawal,
     Dist. Jalgaon (At present residing
     at Yashwat Nagar, Jalgaon)                                                   Petitioner




                                              
              Versus


     1
                             
              The State of Maharashtra
              through Principal Secretary,
                            
              Tribal Development Department,
              Mantralaya, Mumbai 32


     2        The Scheduled Tribe Certificate
      

              Scrutiny Committee, Nandurbar
              Through it's Member Secretary &
              Dy. Director (Research) having it's
   



              Office at Nandurbar, Division, Nandurbar
              Near R.T.O. Office, Sakri Road,
              Nandurbar 425 412





     3        The Sub-Divisional Officer, Faizpur
              Division Faizpur, Dist. Jalgaon                              Respondents

Mr.K.T.Shirurkar advocate for the petitioner

_______________

CORAM : R.M. BORDE & K.L.WADANE, JJ (Date : 13th June, 2016.)

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ORAL JUDGMENT

(Per: R.M. Borde, J)

1 Heard.

2 Rule. With the consent of the parties, petition is taken up

for final decision at admission stage.

3 The petitioner is objecting to the decision rendered by the

Sub Divisional Officer, refusing to issue caste/tribe certificate,

certifying that, he belongs to Thakur scheduled tribe community.

The order passed by the Sub Divisional Officer has been confirmed

by the Scrutiny committee, in view of the Judgment & order dated

17.5.2016.

4 The petitioner has placed reliance on the school record of

his two real sisters in which their caste is recorded as Thakur ST.

Two sisters of the petitioner have been issued caste certificates by

the Competent Authority on 12.3.2004 and 4.8.2005 certifying

that they belong to Thakur ST tribe. Apart from this, the grand

father of the petitioner was also issued caste certificate by the

Executive Magistrate, Yawal on 20.5.1982 which document was

also produced to substantiate the claim of the petitioner.

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5 Prima facie, there appears to be sufficient evidence placed

on record by the petitioner for substantiating his claim as

belonging to Thakur ST category. It is clarified by this Court in

number of matters that the orders in respect of issuance of caste

certificate are required to be issued only on prima facie

satisfaction of issuing authority and a certificate issued by the Sub

divisional Officer or any other competent authority is always open

for scrutiny at the hands of the scrutiny committee. A claimant is

not entitled to secure benefits either in the matter of pursuing

further studies or in the matter of securing employment or any

other benefits under the Policy prescribed by the Government,

without producing the validity certificate. At the stage of

verification of the caste certificate, all relevant aspects are

required to be considered and in depth enquiry is expected to be

made by the committee in respect of the caste/tribe status of the

applicant.

6 In view of above, since the petitioner has prima facie

established his claim for issuance of caste certificate, we direct

the Sub divisional Officer to issue caste certificate in the

prescribed form in favour of the petitioner, as expeditiously as

possible and preferably within a period of four weeks from today.

It is clarified that the caste/tribe certificate issued by the Sub

{4} WP 5745.16.odt

divisional Officer shall be subject to scrutiny by the competent

scrutiny committee and while dealing with the matter of

verification of the status/tribe claim, the scrutiny committee would

be entitled to consider all relevant record and pass appropriate

order in accordance with provisions of law and the observations

made by this Court while directing issuance of caste/tribe

certificate in favour of the petitioner shall not be construed as

expression of opinion in support of claim of the petitioner. The

orders impugned in the instant petition are quashed and set aside.

7 Rule is accordingly made absolute in the above terms.

     8        There shall be no order as to costs.
      
   



                  (K.L.WADANE, J)                    (R.M.BORDE, J)





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