Bombay High Court
Kailash S/O Ruprao Tarale vs State Of Maharashtra Thr. Its ... on 3 March, 2016
Bench: V.A. Naik
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1
IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT BOMBAY
NAGPUR BENCH AT NAGPUR
WRIT PETITION NO.4491/2013
PETITIONER: Kailash s/o Ruprao Tarale,
aged about 47 years, Occ. :- Conductor,
r/o Sagarwadi, Post Pimpalod, Tahsil
Daryapur, District : Amravati.
...VERSUS...
RESPONDENTS : 1. State of Maharashtra, through its
Secretary, through its Department of
Transport, Mantralaya, Mumbai - 32.
2. The Maharashtra State Road Transport
Corporation, Central Bombay through its
Vice Chairman/Manging Director,
Mumbai.
3. The Divisional Controller, Maharashtra
State Road Transport Corporation, Division
Amravati, Amravati.
4. Scheduled Tribe Certificate Scrutiny Committee,
Amravati Division, through its Vice Chairman,
Amravati.
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Shri S.G. Joshi, Advocate for petitioner
Shri N.S. Rao, AGP for respondent no.1
Shri V.G. Wankhede, Advocate for respondent no.3
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CORAM : SMT. VASANTI A. NAIK, AND
A.S. CHANDURKAR, JJ.
DATE : 03.03.2016
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ORAL JUDGMENT (PER : SMT. VASANTI A. NAIK, J.)
Rule. Rule made returnable forthwith. The petition is heard
finally with the consent of the learned Counsel for the parties.
By this petition, the petitioner seeks the protection of his
services as a Conductor in the respondent - Corporation, in view of the
judgment of the Full Bench in the case of Arun s/o Vishwanath
Sonone...Versus...State of Maharashtra and others, reported in 2015
(1) Mh.L.J. 457.
The petitioner was appointed as a Conductor in the
respondent - Corporation in the year 1998 on a post earmarked for the
Scheduled Tribes. The petitioner had claimed to belong to 'Mahadeo Koli'
Scheduled Tribe and the caste claim of the petitioner was referred to the
Scrutiny Committee for verification. The Scrutiny Committee invalidated
the caste claim of the petitioner by the order, dated 5.4.2002. However,
since the Corporation was not aware of the order, the petitioner
continued to work as a Conductor in the respondent - Corporation. The
petitioner has approached this Court only for protection of his services as
the petitioner is ready to give up his claim to belong to 'Mahadeo Koli'
Scheduled Tribe and is ready to furnish an undertaking in that regard.
Shri Joshi, the learned Counsel for the petitioner submitted
that both the conditions that are required to be satisfied while seeking the
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the protection of his services, as per the judgment of the Full Bench, stand
satisfied in the case of the petitioner, inasmuch as, the petitioner was
appointed before the cut off date in the year 1998 and there is no
observation in the order of the Scrutiny Committee that the petitioner had
fraudulently secured the benefits meant for the 'Mahadeo Koli' Scheduled
Tribe. It is submitted that the caste claim of the petitioner was rejected
only because he was not able to prove his affinity to the 'Mahadeo Koli'
Scheduled Tribe.
Shri Wankhede, the learned Counsel for the Corporation
and Shri Rao, the learned Assistant Government Pleader appearing on
behalf of the Scrutiny Committee do not dispute the position of law as
laid down in the judgment of the Full Bench and its applicability to the
facts of this case. It is admitted by the learned Counsel for the
Corporation that the petitioner was appointed before the cut off date in
the year 1998. On a perusal of the order of the Scrutiny Committee, the
learned Counsel for the respondents admit that there is no observation in
the order of the Scrutiny Committee that the petitioner had fraudulently
secured the benefits meant for the 'Mahadeo Koli' Scheduled Tribe.
From the submissions made on behalf of the respective
parties, it is apparent that the petitioner is entitled to protection of his
services, in view of the judgment of the Full Bench. The petitioner was
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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 'Mahadeo Koli' Scheduled Tribe. It is rightly
submitted on behalf of the petitioner that the petitioner failed to prove his
affinity to the 'Mahadeo Koli' Scheduled Tribe and hence, his caste claim
was rejected.
Hence, for the reasons aforesaid, the writ petition is
allowed. The respondent - Corporation is directed to protect the services
of the petitioner as a Conductor on the condition that the petitioner
furnishes an undertaking in this Court and to the respondent -
Corporation, within a period of four weeks that neither the petitioner nor
his progeny would seek the benefits meant for the 'Mahadeo Koli'
Scheduled Tribe, in future.
Rule is made absolute in the aforesaid terms with no order
as to costs.
JUDGE JUDGE
Wadkar
