Salomi Vijaykumar Trubhuvan ... vs Divisional Caste Certificate ...
2016 Latest Caselaw 3193 Bom

                                                                           wp4007-15.odt
               IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT BOMBAY
                          BENCH AT AURANGABAD
                          WRIT PETITION NO. 4007 OF 2015




                                                                              
          Miss Salomi d/o Vijaykumar      ...                      Petitioner 
          Tribhuvan, Age 17 years, Occu; 




                                                      
          Education. Since minor, 
          through natural guardian-
          father Vijaykumar Sukdeo 
          Tribhuvan, Age 48 years,




                                                     
          Occu: Business, R/o Astagaon, 
          Tq.  Rahata, Dist. Ahmednagar

          VERSUS




                                            
          Divisional Caste Certificate                 ...        Respondent 
          Verification Committee No.1,
                               
          Nashik Division, Nashik,
          Through its Research Officer 
          and Member Secretary
                              
    Advocate for Petitioner : Mr. Chandrakant K. Shinde
    AGP for the Respondent State: Mr. A. R. Kale

                                     CORAM   :  R. M. BORDE & 
      


                                                 K. L. WADANE, JJ.
   



                                      DATE   :   24th June, 2016

    JUDGMENT (Per Wadane, J.):                     

1. Rule. Rule made returnable forthwith.

2. By consent of the parties, taken up for final

hearing. We have heard the learned counsel for the

respective parties.

3. By the present petition, the petitioner has

challenged the order passed by the respondent

Divisional Caste Certificate Verification Committee on

10th February, 2015 by which the caste claim of the

wp4007-15.odt petitioner is invalidated.

4. The petitioner, who is a minor girl, has filed

the petition through her father contending inter alia

that she is taking education, studying in 12 th Standard

and she belongs to Mahar, Scheduled Caste. The Deputy

Collector and Special Land Acquisition Officer No.1,

Ahmednagar had issued Caste certificate in favour of

the petitioner on 24th July, 2013. The petitioner

further states that there are entries of Mahar caste in

the school record of the petitioner as well as school

record and revenue record of her father to support her

caste claim.

5. The caste claim/certificate of the petitioner

was referred to the respondent committee. The committee

referred an application to the Vigilance Cell for

conducting school enquiry, home enquiry and other

enquiries. The Vigilance Cell submitted its report to

the Respondent Committee upon conducting enquiry.

Relying upon the findings of the vigilance cell,

the respondent Committee has invalidated the caste

claim of the petitioner mainly on the following

grounds:

(1) Name of the petitioner 'Salomi' appears to be

wp4007-15.odt name, normally of a Christian person.

(2) Names of close relatives of the petitioner were

like persons from Christian community.

(3) Last rites of grandfather and cousin grandfather

of the petitioner were performed as per Christian

faith.

(4) Photographs of Yeshu Christ were seen inside

the house and on the entry door of the house of

the petitioner.

6. On scrutiny of the reasons recorded by the

respondent Committee, it appears that the respondent

Committee has taken into consideration irrelevant

aspects to determine the caste claim of the petitioner.

On scrutiny of the documents produced by the petitioner

before the respondent Committee, it appears that

various school leaving certificates, caste certificates,

revenue record like 7x12 extracts, Mutation entires

etc. are placed on record. Caste certificate dated

22.02.1996 shows that grandfather of the petitioner

belongs to Hindu Mahar caste. There is no reason to

disbelieve the school record particularly, when the

entries in the school record are too old. The

wp4007-15.odt petitioner submits that she was admitted in 4th Standard

in 1995 in Z.P. School Nimgaon. In the school leaving

certificate issued by the School, her caste is recorded

as Hindu Mahar. The petitioner submits that one Sukhdeo

Dada Tribhuvan is her real grandfather and school

record shows his caste as Mahar and it is old entry

recorded in the year 1964-65. So also the extract of

school register i.e. general register of school shows

the name of grandfather at Sr. No. 1519 and his caste

is recorded as Mahar. So, looking to the entire

material on record, we are are of the opinion that

documentary evidence produced in support of the caste

claim of the petitioner are sufficient to hold that

petitioner is belonging to Mahar caste.

7. It appears that, the respondent Committee has

taken into consideration the irrelevant factor while

determining the caste claim of the petitioner. There

is no evidence/material on record to conclude that

the petitioner has adopted Christian religion and she

does not belong to Hindu religion, Mahar caste.

8. It is contended on behalf of the petitioner that

the view taken by the Scrutiny Committee is absolutely

inconsistent with the law laid down by the High Court

wp4007-15.odt as well as the Supreme Court. It is contended that

there is no evidence coming forth in respect of

adoption of Christianity either by the father of the

petitioner or her family. The petitioner has not

relinquished Hindu religion and has not adopted

Christian religion at any point of time. On the other

hand no record is placed before the committee to

conclude that the family of the petitioner has been

excommunicated and they have snapped ties with

Hinduism. Conversion, if any, is only nominal and for

all practical purposes the family belongs to Hindu

religion. It is further pointed out that the

disadvantages which are peculiar to Scheduled Caste,

which is sadly a feature of Hindu religion, continue

and the family faces such disadvantages and

difficulties faced by the lower castes from amongst

Hindus.

9. In this context reliance can be placed on a

judgment in the matter of C.M. Arumugam v. S. Rajgopal

and others reported in (1976) 1 SCC 863. In paragraph

no. 12 of the judgment, the Supreme Court has observed

thus :

12. It seems that the correct test for determining this question is

wp4007-15.odt the one pointed out by this Court in Chatturbhuj Vithaldas Jasani v. Moreshwar Prasahram. Bose, J., speaking on behalf of the Court in

this case pointed out that when a question arises whether conversion operates as a breakaway from the

caste , what we have to determine are the social and political consequences of such conversion and that, we feel, must be decided in a

common sense practical way rather than on theoretical and theocratic grounds. The learned Judge then proceeded to add :

Looked at from the secular point of view, there are three

factors which have to be considered : (1) the reactions of the old body, (2) the intentions of the

individual himself, and (3) the rules of the new order. If the old order is tolerant of the new faith and sees no reason to outcaste or

excommunicate the convert and the individual himself desires and

intends to retain his old social and political ties, the conversion is only nominal for all practical purposes and when we have to

consider the legal and political rights of the old body, the views of the new faith hardly matter.

What is, therefore, material to consider is how the caste looks at

the question of conversion. Does it outcaste or excommunicate the convert or does it still treat him as continuing within its fold despite his conversion: If the convert desires and intends to continue as a member of the caste and the caste also continues to treat him as a member, notwithstanding pointed out by this Court, "the views of the new faith

wp4007-15.odt hardly matter." This was the principle on which it was decided by the Court in Chatturbhuj Vithaldas Jasni's case (supra) that

Gangaram Thaware, whose nomination as a scheduled caste candidate was rejected by the Returning Officer,

continued to be a Mahar, which was specified as a scheduled caste, despite his conversion to the Mahanubhav faith."

10. As laid down by the Supreme Court in the matter

of K.P. Manu, Chairman Scrutiny Committee for

Verification of Community Certificate, reported in AIR

2015 Supreme Court 1402, three things need to be

established by a person who claims to be a beneficiary

of a caste certificate - (i) There must be absolutely

clearcut proof that he belongs to the caste that has

been recognised by the Constitution (Scheduled Caste)

Order 1950; (ii) There has been reconversion to

original religion to which the parents and earlier

generations had belong; and (iii) there has to be a

evidence establishing acceptance by the community.

11. While considering somewhat similar facts/

situation like one in the present matter, the Supreme

Court, in the case of M. Chandra Vs. M. Thangamuthu,

reported in (2010) 9 SCC 712, observed that in order to

claim benefits of reservation under the Constitution

wp4007-15.odt (Scheduled Caste) Order, 1950, a person must establish

that the caste to which he belongs is notified in the

Presidential Order and he is not professing a religion

different from the Hindu, the Sikh or the Buddhist.

12. If findings of the Committee are carefully

perused, the finding of facts recorded by the Committee

that the petitioner is Christian by religion is without

any basis and the said finding is perverse, unjust,

inasmuch as, there is no documentary evidence on record

which would suggest that the petitioner professes

Christianity by way of conversion. The Committee has

not kept in view the law laid down by the Supreme

Court in the aforementioned authoritative pronouncement

and proceeded to invalidate the claim of the petitioner

only on the basis of Vigilance Cell's report.

13. In the instant matter, since there is no evidence

in respect of conversion, there arises no question of

reconversion to the original religion. There is

sufficient evidence placed on record to demonstrate

that petitioner belongs to Mahar caste and that the

people of the community accept petitioner as a member

of Mahar caste.

14. The Scrutiny Committee has overlooked the basic

wp4007-15.odt principles while declining to grant validation

certificate in favour of petitioner. The order passed

by the Scrutiny Committee invalidating the caste

certificate issued to petitioner is erroneous and

deserves to be quashed and set aside and the same is

accordingly quashed and set aside. The respondent

Committee is directed to issue caste validation

certificate in favour of petitioner certifying that she

belongs to Mahar Scheduled Caste, in the prescribed

proforma, as expeditiously as possible, preferably

within a period of four weeks from today.

15. Rule made absolute accordingly. In the facts and

circumstances of the case, there shall be no order as

to costs.

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

JPC