Archana Ramrao Singanwad @ ... vs The State Of Maharashtra And ...
2016 Latest Caselaw 6516 Bom

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                 IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE OF BOMBAY




                                                                           
                            BENCH AT AURANGABAD

                         WRIT PETITION NO.11268 OF 2016




                                                   
     Archana D/o Ramrao Singanwad
     @ Archana Shriniwas Andelwar
     Age: 32 years, Occu: household,
     R/o Chandola, Tq.Mukhed




                                                  
     Dist. Nanded                                                       Petitioner

              Versus




                                           
     1        The State of Maharashtra,
              Tribal Development Department,
              Through Its Secretary,
                             
              Mantralaya, Mumbai - 32


     2        The Sub Divisional Officer,
                            
              Degloor, Tq. Degloor,
              Dist. Nanded                                         Respondents

Mr.P.V. Jadhavar advocate for the petitioner Mr.A.B. Girase, Government Pleader for Respondents

_______________

CORAM : R.M. BORDE & SANGITRAO S. PATIL , JJ

(Date : 17th November, 2016.)

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 order passed by the Sub

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Divisional Officer, Degloor, Dist. Nanded on 28.10.2016, refusing

to issue the caste certificate in favour of the petitioner, certifying

that she belongs to Mannervarlu, scheduled tribe.

4 The petitioner tendered proposal for issuance of caste

certificate to the Sub Divisional Officer in the month of July, 2016

together with necessary documents, supporting her claim. The

Sub Divisional Officer, however, rejected the application tendered

by the petitioner, solely on the ground that, the petitioner has

failed to tender documents prior to 6.9.1950 and that the

documents tendered by the petitioner are of recent past.

5 Time and again, it has been recorded by this Court in

several Judgments that, the competent authorities are required to

issue caste certificates on the basis of prima facie material and in-

depth enquiry at the stage of issuance of caste certificates is not

contemplated. The caste certificate issued to the individual is

always subject to scrutiny by the competent scrutiny committee

and individual is not entitled to claim benefits either in the matter

of education or employment or any other benefit under the

Government Policies unless, he possesses validation certificate.

6 In the instant matter, apart from the evidence for issuance

of caste certificate, validation certificate in favour of blood relation

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i.e. real sister of the petitioner Viz. Veena Ramrao Singanwad was

produced. In our opinion, the petitioner has prima facie

established her claim for issuance of caste certificate and the

order passed by the Sub Divisional Officer is patently erroneous

and deserves to be quashed and set aside.

7 The order passed by the Sub Divisional Officer, Degloor

dated 28.10.2016 is quashed and set aside and the respondent

No.2 Sub Divisional Officer is directed to issue caste certificate in

the prescribed proforma, certifying that, the petitioner belongs to

Mannervarlu, scheduled tribe, within three days from today. It is

clarified that, the observations made in the instant order are on

the basis of prima facie consideration and scrutiny committee,

while conducting verification of the caste certificate, shall take

decision independently, without being influenced by the

observations made in the instant order.

8 Rule is accordingly made absolute. There shall be no order

as to costs.

             (SANGITRAO S. PATIL, J)                           (R.M.BORDE, J)


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