Bombay High Court
Pranjali Bhagwan Sonvane Minor ... vs The State Of Maharashtra And ... on 21 June, 2016
Bench: R.M. Borde
wp6316.16.doc
1
IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT BOMBAY,
BENCH AT AURANGABAD
WRIT PETITION NO. 6316 OF 2016
Pranjali d/o Bhagwan Sonvane
age 15 years (minor) under guardianship of
her real father
Bhagwan Ganpat Sonavane
age 41 years, occ. Service
r/o Jamdi Jahagir, Tq. Kannad
dist. Aurangabad. .. PETITIONER
VERSUS
01. The State of Maharashtra
Through the Secretary,
Social Welfare
Cultural Affairs,
Sports and Tourism Department,
Mantralaya, Mumbai.
02. The Sub Divisional Officer
Kannad, Taluka Kannad,
Dist. Aurangabad. .. RESPONDENTS
Mr. A.D. Sugdare, advocate for petitioner.
Mr. P.S. Patil, AG P for the State.
=====
CORAM : R.M. BORDE &
K. L. WADANE, JJ.
DATE : 21st JUNE, 2016.
ORAL JUDGMENT : ( PER R. M. BORDE, J. )
1. Rule. Rule made returnable forthwith.
2. Heard finally with the consent of learned counsel for the respective
parties.
3. Petitioner has approached this Court seeking directions against
respondent no. 2 in respect of issuance of caste certificate certifying that
petitioner belongs to Scheduled Tribe Koli Malhar caste.
wp6316.16.doc
4. It is the contention of petitioner that proposal was tendered in the
office of respondent no. 2 however, the same was returned back with
directions to submit additional documents. It is stated that the proposal
was submitted on 28.01.2016 however, the same was also returned. We do
not understand as to why the proposal tendered by petitioner shall not be
processed in the background that father of the minor child is in receipt of
caste validation certificate issued by the competent Scrutiny Committee.
Petitioner did tender the caste validation certificate issued in favour of her
father to the Sub-Divisional Officer. According to us, said document i.e.
validation certificate issued in the name of father of petitioner is sufficient
to establish claim of petitioner for issuance of atleast caste certificate. This
Court has ruled in number of matters that caste certificate has to be issued
on prima facie consideration of material placed by the applicant and the
individual / applicant is not entitled to secure any benefit under the
Government policy or in the matter of education or employment unless
validation certificate is issued by the Scrutiny Committee. At the stage of
issuance of validation certificate the Scrutiny Committee is entitled to
conduct a detailed probe in the matter. In number of matters it is observed
that these directions issued by High Court while disposing of several writ
petitions have been overlooked by the Sub-Divisional Officer. The State
Government shall impress upon the issuing authority the principle that
caste certificate shall have to be issued merely on prima facie satisfaction of
the claim and in depth enquiry is not contemplated at the state of issuance
of caste certificate by the issuing authority.
wp6316.16.doc
5. For the reasons recorded above, writ petition deserves to be allowed
and the same is accordingly allowed. The Sub-Divisional Officer shall
accept the proposal that would be tendered by petitioner within one week
from today and, respondent no. 2 shall issue caste certificate in the
prescribed proforma within one week from the date of receipt of the
proposal. Rule made absolute accordingly. No costs.
( K. L. WADANE ) ( R. M. BORDE )
JUDGE ig JUDGE
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