Vinod S/O Mahadeorao Shrote vs State Of Maha. Thr. Secretary, ...
2022 Latest Caselaw 2078 Bom

33-J-WP-2549-21                                                            1/6


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

                        WRIT PETITION NO.2549 OF 2021


Vinod s/o Mahadeorao Shrote,
aged about 52 years, occupation
Service as Assistant Public Prosecutor
at Yavatmal District Resident of
M-22, Shivsagar, Himalaya Vishwa
Colony, Nagpur Road, Wardha                              ... Petitioner.

-vs-

1. State of Maharashtra,
   through its Secretary, Ministry
   of Tribal Welfare and Social Justice
   Department, Mantralaya, Mumbai 400 032

2. State of Maharashtra,
   through its Secretary, Ministry
   of Home Department,
   Mantralaya, Mumbai 400 032

3. Scheduled Tribe Caste Certificate
   Scrutiny Committee, Nagpur Division,
   Nagpur, through its Deputy Director/
   Member-Secretary, Civil Lines, Nagpur                ... Respondents


Shri N. C. Phadnis, Advocate for petitioner.
Ms Mayuri H. Deshmukh, Assistant Government Pleader for respondent.

                      CORAM : A. S. CHANDURKAR AND SMT M. S. JAWALKAR, JJ.

DATE : March 01, 2022

Oral Judgment : (Per : A. S. Chandurkar, J.)

Rule. Rule made returnable forthwith and heard the learned

counsel for the parties.

The challenge raised in this writ petition is to the order dated

15/06/2021 passed by the Scheduled Tribe Caste Certificate Scrutiny 33-J-WP-2549-21 2/6

Committee, Nagpur (for short, the Scrutiny Committee) invalidating the

petitioner's tribe claim of belonging to 'Halba' Scheduled Tribe.

2. It is the case of the petitioner that he and his forefathers belong to

'Halba' Scheduled Tribe. By relying upon various pre-constitutional

documents wherein the entry 'Halba/Halbi' has been recorded, the

petitioner seeks verification of his caste. The petitioner was selected by

the Maharashtra Public Service Commission as Assistant Public

Prosecutor in 2001. An order of appointment was issued to him on

31/01/2006. Since the post on which the petitioner was appointed was

reserved for a candidate from the Scheduled Tribe category, his caste

certificate was sent for verification. In that process the petitioner relied

upon various old documents of the year 1917 and 1941. He also relied

upon validity certificates issued to his blood relatives. The Scrutiny

Committee however proceeded to invalidate the claim of the petitioner

on the ground that the petitioner and his family members had suppressed

documents which indicated some other entries. This aspect of

suppression was not considered in the earlier orders and hence the

Scrutiny Committee found that the petitioner would not be entitled for

validation of his tribe-claim. Further the petitioner was found not having

cultural affinity with the persons from 'Halba' Scheduled Tribe. On the

aforesaid premise the impugned order came to be passed. Being

aggrieved the said order is challenged in this writ petition.

33-J-WP-2549-21 3/6

3. Shri N. C. Phadnis, learned counsel for the petitioner submitted

that in view of various pre-constitutional documents of 1917 and 1941,

the Scrutiny Committee ought to have considered the probative value of

those old documents and it ought to have given due weightage to the

same. Further, this Court in Writ Petition No.1770/1993 (Ku. Samiksha

Mahadeorao Shrote vs. State of Maharashtra) had upheld the claim of

the petitioner's sister of belonging to 'Halba' Scheduled Tribe. Similarly,

the nephew of the petitioner Sandeep was also found to belong to

'Halba' Scheduled Tribe by this Court in Writ Petition No.2497/2001

(Sandeep s/o Babanrao Shrote vs. The State of Maharashtra and ors.) . It

was not permissible for the Scrutiny Committee to ignore such

adjudication by this Court nor was it permissible to ignore the validity

certificates issued to the blood relatives. Merely by observing that there

was alleged suppression of certain documents, it was not permissible for

the Scrutiny Committee to get over the aforesaid adjudication by this

Court. Placing reliance on the decision Apoorva d/o Vinay Nichale vs.

Divisional Caste Certificate Scrutiny Committee and ors. 2010 (6) MhLJ 401 it

was submitted that the order of Scrutiny Committee was liable to be set

aside and validity certificate ought to be issued to the petitioner.

4. Ms M. H. Deshmukh, learned Assistant Government Pleader for

the respondents supported the impugned order. She submitted that some

blood relatives were issued conditional validity certificates and there 33-J-WP-2549-21 4/6

were some documents wherein the entry 'Halbi' was found. Since the

adjudication by the Scrutiny Committee with regard to some relatives had

not been challenged, the petitioner also was not entitled to receive the

validity certificate. Since all relevant facts had not been placed before

the Court when the earlier adjudication took place, the Scrutiny

Committee examined the same and invalidated the claim of the

petitioner. Hence no interference with the impugned order was called

for.

5. We have heard the learned counsel for the parties and we have

perused the documents placed on record. The oldest document on which

the petitioner has relied is dated 03/01/1917. That is a primary school

leaving certificate issued to the petitioner's grandfather with the entry

'Halbi'. Another document dated 01/03/2017 is the extract of the school

register also pertaining to the petitioner's grandfather. Thereafter there

is a birth extract dated 09/11/1941 pertaining to birth of a female child

to the petitioner's grandfather. There is also a death extract dated

05/07/1942 of the petitioner's great grandfather with entry 'Halbi. The

Scrutiny Committee has not doubted these old documents and the same

have been verified by the Vigilance Cell. Thereafter in Writ Petition

No.1770/1993 this Court on 29/07/1993 while considering the case of

the petitioner's sister Samiksha declared that she had proved that she

belongs to 'Halba' Scheduled Tribe. This was in view of an earlier order 33-J-WP-2549-21 5/6

passed by the Scrutiny Committee in the case of the petitioner's brother

Pramod on 25/05/1987 accepting the claim of belonging to 'Halba'

Scheduled Tribe. There is a validity certificate issued to the petitioner's

niece Rita and also to another cousin of the petitioner Suresh on

23/05/2003. Thereafter in Writ Petition No.2497/2001 that was filed

by the petitioner's nephew, this Court on 20/12/2012 considered these

very old documents and upheld the claim as made of belonging to 'Halba'

Scheduled Tribe.

6. The orders passed by this Court referred to above or the validity

certificates issued are not the subject matter of any further challenge and

that adjudication has attained finality. It is thus seen that the petitioner's

real brother and sister are already declared to belong to 'Halba'

Scheduled Tribe and there is no reason whatsoever much less on the

reasons sought to be assigned by the Scrutiny Committee to hold that the

petitioner does not belong to 'Halba' Scheduled Tribe. The ratio of the

decision in Apoorva Nichale (supra) squarely applies to the facts of the

present case. Merely by stating that some material was not considered

when the earlier adjudication took place cannot be a ground for denying

the benefit of that adjudication to the petitioner. Accepting the

contention of the Scrutiny Committee would result in the petitioner being

deprived of such declaration of belonging to 'Halba' Scheduled Tribe

despite the fact that his real brother and sister have been adjudicated to 33-J-WP-2549-21 6/6

belong to 'Halba' Scheduled Tribe. As stated above the documents relied

upon by the petitioner herein were also the subject matter of

consideration and adjudication in the earlier proceedings and said

documents were accepted in favour of the petitioner's blood relatives.

For all these reasons we find that the Scrutiny Committee was not

justified in invalidating the tribe claim of the petitioner. The impugned

order dated 15/06/2021 passed by the Scrutiny Committee is therefore

found to be unsustainable.

7. Accordingly the following order passed :

(i) The order dated 15/06/2021 passed by the Scrutiny Committee is set aside. It is declared that the petitioner has proved that he belongs to 'Halba' Scheduled Tribe which is Entry 19 in the Scheduled Tribes Order, 1950.

(ii) The Scrutiny Committee shall within a period of six weeks from production of this order issue a validity certificate to the petitioner.

Rule is made absolute in aforesaid terms. No costs. Pending Civil Application is also disposed of.

                                 (Smt M. S. Jawalkar, J.)     (A. S. Chandurkar, J.)




         Asmita


Digitally signed byASMITA
ADWAIT BHANDAKKAR
Signing Date:03.03.2022
18:31:44