Vasant Laxman Dhoke R/O Kolari ... vs Committee For Scrutiny & Verin.Of ...
2017 Latest Caselaw 4467 Bom

                                                   1               wp697.02.odt

                 IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT BOMBAY
                          NAGPUR BENCH, NAGPUR

                           WRIT PETITION NO. 697 OF 2002

            Vasant S/o. Laxman Dhoke,
            aged about 36 years, Occ. Service,
            R/o. Kalari, Tah.Bhivapur,
            Distt. Nagpur ......                                    PETITIONER

                                 ...VERSUS...

 1.         Committee for Scrutiny and Verification
            of Tribe Claims, through its
            Chairman, Adivasi Vikas Bhavan,
            Giripeth, Nagpur.

 2.         Yashwant Gramin Shikshan Sanstha,
            through its Principal, Sewagram Road,
            Wardha.

 3.         Yashwant Mahavidyalaya,
            Sewagram Road, Wardha  ......                           RESPONDENTS

 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 None for Petitioner.
 Shri V.P.Maldhure, Asstt. Govt. Pleader for Respondent no. 1
 None for respondent Nos. 2 and 3
 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                          CORAM: R. K. DESHPANDE, AND
                                        Mrs. SWAPNA JOSHI, JJ.

th DATE : 13 JULY, 2017 .

ORAL JUDGMENT (Per Swapna Joshi, J)

1] By this petition, the petitioner has challenged the

decision of Respondent No.1 Committee for Scrutiny and

Verification of Tribe Claims, dated 10.12.2001, by which the

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caste certificate of the petitioner belonging to Mana -

Scheduled Tribe, issued by the competent authority, Nagpur,

has been invalidated.

2] The petitioner was appointed as a lecturer on the

basis of the caste certificate issued by the competent

Authority by Yashwant Mahavidyalaya, Wardha. The caste

certificate issued by the competent Authority in favour of the

petitioner was forwarded to the respondent No.1 -

Committee for verification, along with as many as 25

documents. However, the caste claim of the petitioner was

invalidated on the ground that the petitioner has failed to

establish sociocultural affinity and ethnic linkage with Mana

sub-tribe of Gond Scheduled Tribe community. The Scrutiny

Committee placed reliance upon the judgment of the Hon'ble

Apex Court in the case of Dadaji alias Dina vrs.

Sukhdeobabu and others, reported in 1980 S.C.R. 150.

3] In this regard, the controversy involved in this

petition no longer remains res intergra in view of the decision

of the Hon'ble Apex Court in the case of State of

Maharashtra and others vrs. Mana Adim Jamat Mandal,

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reported in 2006 (4) SCC 98. The Hon'ble Apex Court has in

term held that, two judgments i.e. in the case of Dina vrs.

Narayan Singh, reported in 1968 (38) ELR 212 and another

in the case of Dadaji vrs. Sukhdeobabu, reported in (1980) 1

SCC 621 stand impliedly over-ruled by the decision of the

Constitution Bench of the Hon'ble Apex Court in the case of

State of Maharashtra vrs. Milind Katware, reported in (2001)

1 SCC 4. The Hon'ble Apex Court has held in the case of

State of Maharashtra vrs. Mana Adim Jamat Mandal that

each of the tribes specified in Entry No.18 must be deemed

to be a separate tribe and not a sub-tribe of Gond. In view of

this position, the order passed by the Scrutiny Committee

that the petitioner belonging to Mana tribe has failed to

establish his affinity with Gond, cannot be sustained. The

Scrutiny Committee has to examine the case of the petitioner

for Mana Scheduled Tribe category, which is not a sub-tribe

of Gond.

4] Significantly, by no stretch of imagination, the

forefathers of the candidate would have imagined that after

30 years the Presidential order would be promulgated and

they would be described as Scheduled Tribe and therefore,

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they should write Scheduled Tribe with their particular caste

or tribe.

5] In view of the aforesaid facts and circumstances,

the following order is passed.

                  [i]      The writ petition is allowed.

                  [ii]     The   order   dated   10.12.2001   passed   by   the

Committee for Scrutiny and Verification of Tribe

Claims, Nagpur, is hereby quashed and set

aside.

[iii] The matter is remitted back to the Scrutiny and

Verification of Tribe Claims, Nagpur, for fresh

consideration of the matter on merits.

[iv] The Scrutiny Committee to verify and scrutinize

the claim of the petitioner and to decide the case

of the petitioner in the light of the decision in the

case of State of Maharashtra vrs. Mana Admit

Jamat Mandal, within a period of six months from

the date of appearance of the petitioner.

[iv] The Scrutiny Committee to issue notice to the

petitioner within one month to secure the

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presence of the petitioner.

Rule made absolute accordingly. No order as to costs.

                                JUDGE                        JUDGE


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