Bombay High Court
Ganesh Dadarao Thombre vs The State Of Maharashtra And ... on 10 August, 2022
Bench: Mangesh S. Patil, Sandeep V. Marne
.. 1 .. WP.11415.2019
IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT BOMBAY
BENCH AT AURANGABAD
WRIT PETITION NO.11415 OF 2019
Ganesh Dadarao Thombre,
Age : 26 years, Occu : Education,
R/o. Thombre Patil Niwas,
Pimpalgaon (Pandhri), Post Aglave Georai,
Tq. & Dist. Aurangabad .. Petitioner
Versus
1. The State of Maharashtra
Through its Principal Secretary,
Department of Education,
Maharashtra State, Mantralaya,
Mumbai.
2. The Maharashtra Public Service Commission,
Through Secretary.
3. The Zilla Parishad, Aurangabad
through its Chief Executive Officer,
Aurangabad
4. The Education Officer (Secondary)
Zilla Parishad, Aurangabad
5. Secondary and Higher Secondary School,
Pimpalgaon (Pandhri), Tq. & Dist. Aurangabad
through its Head Master
6. The Collector,
@ President District Selection Committee
Ratnagiri, Dist. Ratnagiri .. Respondents
...
Mr. Yuvraj V. Kakade, Advocate for the Petitioner
Smt. M.A. Deshpande, AGP for Respondent Nos.1 & 4
...
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.. 2 .. WP.11415.2019
CORAM : MANGESH S. PATIL &
SANDEEP V. MARNE, JJ.
RESERVED ON : 02-08-2022
PRONOUNCED ON : 10-08-2022
JUDGMENT (PER SANDEEP V. MARNE, J.) :
. Heard. Rule. It is made returnable forthwith. Learned
AGP Smt. M.A. Deshpande waives service for respondent nos.1 to 4.
The matter is heard finally at the admission stage.
2. By way of present petition, the petitioner seeks
correction of entry of caste in his birth certificate from "Kunabi
Hindu" to "Maratha". The request of the petitioner has been turned
down by way of communication dated 14.08.2019 on the ground that
since the petitioner has already left the school, correction cannot be
made in accordance with the provisions of clause 26.4 of the
Secondary Schools Code, 1986.
3. The issue involved in the present petition is no more
res integra. Full Bench of this Court in Janabai Himmatrao Thakur Vs.
State of Maharashtra and others, [2019 (6) Mh.L.J. 769] has dealt
with the issue of scope of correction of entries in the school record
and has held as under:
.. 3 .. WP.11415.2019
"39. This being the position, we answer Question Nos.(A) and
(C) in the following terms :
(a) An application for alteration in the entries in the
General Register is permissible, with the previous permission
of the appropriate authority at any time when the pupil is
attending the school.
(b) No application for alteration in the figure of date of
birth is permissible, after the student has left secondary
school, except correction in the nature of 'obvious mistakes' as
indicated in Clause 26.3 i.e. of a nature where the date of a
particular month which does not exist in the calendar and
likewise.
(c) Thus, in light of the above, an application for
change in the name, surname or caste, either due to reasons /
cause unnoticed before or even occurring subsequently, being
errors which fall within the category of 'obvious mistakes', can
be made, even after the student has left school in light of the
language of Clause 26.3 in the manner as indicated by
Appendix Six in the forms as prescribed in the S.S. Code.
(d) For the purposes like admission to another
educational institution, in cases of obvious mistakes as
prescribed in Clause 26.4, a change/ correction in the school
leaving certificate, so as to make the entry consistent with the
corresponding entries in the General Register of the School is
permissible, which in fact is in consonance with (c) above."
4. Thus, so far as alteration of entry of caste is concerned,
the Full Bench has held that such alteration is permissible only in
respect of errors which fall within the category of "obvious mistakes".
5. Mr. Kakade, advocate appearing for the petitioner
submitted that the Sub Divisional Officer, Aurangabad has issued
caste certificate in respect of the petitioner certifying that he belongs
to Maratha Caste. He further submitted that in the school leaving
.. 4 .. WP.11415.2019
certificates of his sisters, the caste is mentioned as "Maratha".
He, therefore, contended that there is an obvious error in recording
the caste of the petitioner in the school record and therefore, he is
covered by the direction in para 39 (c) of the decision of Full Bench
in Janabai (supra).
6. Per contra, Smt. M.A. Deshpande, AGP appearing for
respondent - State submitted that the alteration does not fall within
the category of "obvious error". She further submitted that the
petitioner had applied in pursuance of selection process for the post
of Talathi in SEBC category as the reservation for 'Maratha" caste was
permissible for SEBC category during the year 2019. She, therefore,
submitted that the intention of the petitioner in seeking alteration of
caste entry in the school record was obviously to get benefit of
erstwhile reservation in SEBC category.
7. "Kunabi Hindu" is not a recognized caste. In the School
Leaving Certificate, the column of "religion" is left blank and in the
column of "caste" Kunabi Hindu has been mentioned. Thus, instead
of writing the word "Hindu" in the religion column, the same appears
to have been erroneously added to the word "Kunabi" in the caste
column. There is also no denial to the fact that in school leaving
.. 5 .. WP.11415.2019
certificates of the two sisters of the petitioners, their caste is shown as
"Maratha". The petitioner is also issued caste certificate dated
10.09.2014 by Sub Divisional Officer, Aurangabad certifying that he
belongs to "Maratha" caste.
8. The submission of Smt. Deshpande that the intention of
the petitioner in seeking alteration of entry of caste in the school
record was to receive benefits of reservation in SEBC category,
appears to be attractive in the first blush. However, it is a common
ground that reservation to SEBC category is held to be invalid by the
Supreme Court and is no longer available. Therefore, as of today the
petitioner cannot get any reservation benefits upon alteration of caste
entry in his school record as "Maratha". Rather, with the entry of
"Kunabi" the petitioner can get the reservation benefit from OBC
category. The petitioner is still insisting for change of entry of caste
in school record from "Kunabi" to "Maratha".
9. Thus, we have before us the petitioner who wants to
alter the entry of "Kunabi" in his school record, which would grant
him benefit of reservation to that of "Maratha" which would make
him eligible only in open category. Therefore, there cannot be any
ulterior motive in seeking correction of entry regarding the caste in
.. 6 .. WP.11415.2019
the school record. It is on account of these peculiar circumstances
that we are inclined to exercise our jurisdiction in the present matter.
We have already held that there is no caste such as "Kunabi Hindu"
and therefore, there appears to an "obvious mistake" in recording the
caste of the petitioner. Our order, however, shall not be construed to
mean that every case of correction of entry of caste falls within the
category of "obvious mistake".
10. We, therefore, hold that the case of the petitioner falls
within the category of "obvious mistake" and the petitioner is
required to be extended the benefit of para 39 (c) of the Full Bench
decision of this Court in Janabai (supra). We, therefore, proceed to
pass the following order.
ORDER
(i) The communication dated 14.08.2019 of Respondent no.4 -
Education Officer (Secondary) Zilla Parishad, Aurangabad is quashed
and set aside.
(ii) Respondent no.3 is directed to issue necessary directions to
respondent no.5 school to correct the entry with regard to the caste
of the petitioner from "Kunabi Hindu" to "Maratha".
.. 7 .. WP.11415.2019
11. With the above directions, the petition is allowed without any
order as to costs.
12. Rule is made absolute.
( SANDEEP V. MARNE, J. ) ( MANGESH S. PATIL, J. )
GGP
