Mohammad Anas Mohammad Salim vs District Caste Scrutiny ...
2022 Latest Caselaw 4370 Bom

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



              WRIT PETITION No.5401 OF 2021


        Mohammad Anas Mohammad Salim,
        Age about 19 years, Occ. Student,
        Nehru Nagar, Behind Petrol Pump,
        Ward No.9, Dharni, At Post Dharni,
        Tahsil Dharni, District Amravati.

                                                ... PETITIONER

                ...VERSUS...

1.      District Caste Scrutiny
        Committee, Amravati.

2.      Nagpur University, Civil
        Lines, Nagpur, through its
        Chancellor.
3.      G.H. Raisoni College of
        Engineering, CRPF Road,
        Digdoh Hills, Hingna, Tahsil
        Hingna, District Nagpur,
        through its Principal.

                                                ...RESPONDENTS
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Shri Abdul Subhan, Advocate for Petitioner.
Ms H.N. Jaipurkar, Assistant Government Pleader for respondent No.1
Shri V.R. Deshpande, Advocate for respondent No.2
None for respondent No.3
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               CORAM : SUNIL B. SHUKRE AND
                       SMT. M.S. JAWALKAR, JJ.

RESERVED ON : 21th APRIL, 2022.

PRONOUNCED ON : 26th APRIL,2022.

ORAL JUDGMENT : (Per : Smt. M.S. Jawalkar, J.)

Rule. Rule made returnable forthwith. Heard

finally with consent of the parties.

2. The present petition raises challenge to the

order dated 14/09/2021 passed by respondent No.1 -

Scrutiny Committee, thereby rejecting caste claim of the

petitioner. The petitioner claims belonging to 'Kachi' caste

which is recognized as Other Backward Classes at Serial No.

85, as per Government Resolution dated 01/06/2004. Sub

Divisional Officer issued caste certificate on 18/04/2016, as

per Rules framed by the State of Maharashtra i.e.

Maharashtra Scheduled Castes, De-notified Tribes, (Vimukta

Jatis), Nomadic Tribes, Other Backward Classes and Special wp 5401-2021.odt

Backward Category (Regulation of Issuance and Verification

of) Caste Certificate Rules, 2012) (hereinafter referred to as

'Rules of 2012'). As per regularization of issuance and

verification of caste certificate Rules, 2012, after issuance of

certificate, it was sent to the District Caste Scrutiny

Committee for its verification. The petitioner had secured

admission in the one year of under graduate technical

course in Engineering and Technology for the Academic year

2020-21 against the seat reserved for Other Backward Class.

Thereafter, he submitted his certificate along with other

documents for verification to the respondent No.1, Scrutiny

Committee. He also placed family tree along with the

application. The Scrutiny Committee issued notice to the

petitioner thereby informing to remain present on

29/06/2020. The learned Counsel alleged that the

respondent Committee without referring the documents

submitted by the petitioner to the vigilance cell for enquiry

passed impugned order. There is no contrary remark in the

document submitted by the petitioner. The Scrutiny

Committee rejected the caste claim after eight months and wp 5401-2021.odt

communicated the same after fourteen months. The claim

was rejected on the ground that 'dph' is a sub-caste of Kachi,

Kushwaha, Shakya, Morya, Murai, Saini and the affinity test

of 'dph' do not match with the Kachi, Kushwaha, Shakya,

Morya, Murai, Saini. In this backdrop, petitioner prays for

setting aside the order of Scrutiny Committee and for

issuance of caste certificate. It is contended that order

passed by the Committee is totally erroneous, without

application of mind and ignored the documents which are

having great probative value. The Caste Scrutiny Committee

even ignored the certificate issued in favour of blood

relatives. The learned Counsel relied on judgment in -

1. Writ Petition No. 6023/2019, Kareema Abdul Shakoor

Nagani Vs. District Caste Scrutiny Committee, Nagpur and

others.

2. Writ Petition No. 1009/2017, Sangita Madan Ingle Vs.

Vice Chairman/Joint Commissioner, Scheduled Tribe Caste

Certificate Scrutiny Committee, Amravati.

wp 5401-2021.odt

3. State of Maharashtra Vs. Mana Aadim Jamat Mandal,

reported in (2006) 4 SCC 98.

4. Apoorva D/o Vinay Nichale Vs. Divisional Caste

Certificate Scrutiny Committee No.1, Nagpur and others

reported in 2010 (6) Mh.L.J. 401.

3. Learned Assistant Government Pleader orally

opposed the petition however not filed any reply.

4. We have heard the parties at length. Perused

impugned order and considered supporting citations. The

claim of the petitioner was for ' [email protected]' Other Backward

Class category at Serial No. 85 in the list which reproduced

below :

85 & dph [dkNh] dq'kokg] 'kkD;] eks;Z] eqjkbZ] lSuh]

[dksbjh] dksbZjh] o dq'kokgk]

5. The petitioner produced before Caste Scrutiny

Committee the caste validity certificate issued in favour of wp 5401-2021.odt

his father and real uncle. There is no dispute about the

family tree nor about genuinity of the documents. As per

Rule 16(3) of Rules of 2012 which reads as under :

"(1) ........

(2) .......

(3) If an applicant submits the application alongwith the caste validity certificate of his father in blood relation or real uncle or any other blood relative from paternal side and if he has applied for the same caste of which above mentioned validity certificate is issued, in such case the name of such applicant alongwith the caste validity certificate of his father in blood relation or real uncle or any other blood relative from paternal side submitted by him will be displayed on the web site of Dr.Babasaheb Ambedkar Research And Training Institute, Pune (BARTI) as well it will be displayed on the notice board of the concerned District Caste Certificate Scrutiny Committee. It will be conveyed to register objection if any about the request of an applicant within 15 days from such publication.

If no objections or complaints are received with regard to such application then District Caste Certificate Scrutiny Committee will issue caste validity certificate without asking for other documents of proof by considering that validity certificate as an important evidence.

If any objections or complaints are received on the application, the District Caste Certificate Scrutiny Committee will make an enquiry within the maximum wp 5401-2021.odt

period of sixty days from the receipt of such complaints or objections.

If no substance is found the District Caste Certificate Scrutiny Committee will issue the validity certificate to the applicant. If any substance is found in objections or complaints the District Caste Certificate Scrutiny Committee will take decision about claim of the caste verification of concerned applicant by following prescribed office procedure and the decision about the caste validity will be taken."

6. There is also no dispute that the father and

uncle of the petitioner were issued validity certificate.

However, the Caste Scrutiny Committee discarded these

documents and rejected the claim of the petitioner on the

ground that 'Kachi' is sub-caste of Kachi, Kushwaha, Shakya,

Morya, Murai, Saini which were included in Entry 85 by

way of amendment. The affinity test of 'Kacchi' do not

match with the caste of Kachi, Kushwaha, Shakya, Morya,

Murai, Saini. As held in Apoorva (supra), once a caste claim

in blood relative is decided then Scrutiny Committee cannot

refuse the same status to his or her blood relatives who

applies. Thus, once issuance of caste validity certificate in

the name of blood relatives, there cannot be a different wp 5401-2021.odt

conclusion than one that the petitioners are entitled to get

the validity certificate in their favour. It is also held that

between one entry and another if 'comma' is provided in

between two entries each of the castes specified in Serial

No. 85, must be deemed to be separate caste and not a sub-

caste.

7. If cut of date is taken as 30/01/2014 as [email protected]

is included by way of amendment in entry No. 85, the

following documents can be considered for deciding the

claim.

 Sr.           Name            Documents/          Date     Caste
 No.                           Certificates
 1.         Mohd. Anas        Caste Certificate 18/04/2016 KACCHI
          Mohd.Salim Kacchi

     2.     Mohd. Anas        School leaving    26/06/2008 KACCHI
          Mohd.Salim Kacchi     Certificate      (Date of
                                                Admission)

     3    Mohd. Salim Mohd. School leaving      17/06/1981    dPNh
                Yusuf         Certificate         (Date of
                                                Admission)

     4.   Mohd. Rafiq Mohd.      Transfer       03/07/1978    dPNh
           Yusuf Ali Mohd.      Certificate


     5.   Mohd. Salim Mohd     Certificate of   19/05/2016   Kacchi
               Yusuf             Validity
                                                wp 5401-2021.odt




  6.   Mohd. Rafiq Mohd.    Certificate of   19/05/2016   Kacchi
            Yusuf             Validity

  7.     Ali Mohd Tar      Jamabandi Chart    1942-43      dNh
          Mohd dNh
  8.     Ali Mohd Tar      Jamabandi Chart    1950-51      dPNh
          Mohd dPNh
  9          .......           Jamabandi Chart    1959-60      dPNh

Six out of these nine documents are prior to cut

off date. The Caste Scrutiny Committee discarded these

documents on the ground that in school leaving certificate

the caste is mentioned as Musalman so also it is showing

caste dNh which is differed from dNh aand held that his claim

of caste belonging to 'Kachi' is not established by these

documents. Caste Scrutiny Committee discarded those

documents as petitioner is claiming 'Kachi' whereas caste is

shown as 'Kachhi'. Before discarding these documents the

Caste Scrutiny Committee failed to appreciate that validity

certificate was issued to blood relatives of the petitioner.

While discarding these documents Scrutiny Committee

observed in Para 12 as under :

wp 5401-2021.odt

^^mijksDr nksUgh oS/krk izek.ki=/kkjdkP;k eqG lafpdsps voyksdu dsys vlrk vls fun'kZukl vkys dh] izdj.kkr n{krk iFkdkekQZr pkSd'kh u djrk rlsp R;kaph vWQsfuVh VsLV u ?ksrk R;kaP;k :<h ijaijk o v-dz- 85 oj lekfo"V vlysY;k dkph o rRle tkrh'kh feGR;ktqGR;k vkgsr fdaok dls] ;kph [kk=h u djrk lnj oS/krk izek.ki= fuxZfer dj.;kr vkys vlY;kps fun'kZukl vkys**-

8. Though it is held that those certificates were

issued without conducting any enquiry through vigilance

cell and without complying affinity test, those were neither

recalled nor cancelled. Surprisingly the Caste Scrutiny

Committee though having authority to direct enquiry

through vigilance cell, in this matter did not refer the said

documents to the vigilance cell nor got any enquiry

conducted through vigilance cell. Specifically when on the

ground of absence of enquiry through vigilance cell, validity

certificates were discarded by the Scrutiny Committee.

9. In such circumstances if Caste Scrutiny

Committee is of the opinion that those certificates were

issued without any enquiry by vigilance cell, it would be wp 5401-2021.odt

appropriate for Caste Scrutiny Committee at least to refer to

documents produced by the petitioner before the Caste

Scrutiny Committee to the vigilance cell for its verification.

The documents are showing caste of the near relatives of the

petitioner dNh , dPNh. In view thereof enquiry was necessary.

The Caste Scrutiny Committee passed order without

referring the documents to the vigilance cell and without

granting any opportunity to the petitioner to submit any say

in respect of earlier validity certificate issued by the

Committee. Thus without conducting any enquiry through

vigilance cell the order came to be passed. By that Caste

Scrutiny Committee failed to conduct enquiry as per law laid

down by the Apex Court. Thus it would be proper to remit

back the matter to the Caste Scrutiny Committee for fresh

enquiry. Impugned order is unsustainable and illegal, hence

liable to be set aside. Accordingly we proceed to pass the

following order.

wp 5401-2021.odt

ORDER

1. Petition is partly allowed. Impugned order passed by respondent No.1 - District Caste Scrutiny Committee, Amravati dated 31/03/2021 is hereby quashed and set aside.

2. The respondent No.1 is hereby directed to conduct fresh enquiry by granting full opportunity to the petitioner and take a fresh decision in accordance with law. Fresh decision shall be taken within a period of six months from the date of receipt of order.

3. The respondent Nos. 2 and 3 are hereby directed not to disturb the admission of petitioner and permit the petitioner to appear in the 3rd and 4th semester examination of 2nd year Civil Engineering course and to take decision after enquiry and fresh decision about the caste claim of the petitioner by the Scrutiny Committee.

Civil Application No. 854/2022 also stands disposed of in view of the above said order.

No orders as to costs.

(Smt. M.S. Jawalkar, J.) (Sunil B. Shukre, J.)

Jayashree..

Signed By:JAYASHREE SHARAD SHINGNE

Signing Date:26.04.2022 14:02