Bombay High Court
Rushali Balaji Chitale vs The State Of Maharashtra And ... on 3 October, 2022
Bench: Mangesh S. Patil, Sandeep V. Marne
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IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT BOMBAY
BENCH AT AURANGABAD
WRIT PETITION NO. 12924 OF 2018
Rushali D/o Balaji Chitale,
Age : 22 Years, Occu. : Education,
R/o Tuppa, Tq. Nanded,
Dist. Nanded. .. Petitioner
Versus
1. The State of Maharashtra,
Through its Secretary,
Higher & Technical Education
Department, Mantralaya,
Mumbai.
2. The Scheduled Tribe Caste Certificate
Verification Committee, Aurangabad,
Through its Member Secretary,
Aurangabad.
3. The Dean
Pandit Deendayal Upadhyay
Dental College, J 19/1, Kegaon,
Solapur, Dist. Solapur.
4. The Registrar,
Maharashtra University of Health
Sciences, Dindori Road, Mhasrul/
Nashik, District Nashik. .. Respondents
Shri Sunil M. Vibhute, Advocate for the Petitioner.
Shri S. B. Yawalkar, Addl. G.P. for the Respondent Nos. 1 and 2.
WITH
WRIT PETITION NO. 13257 OF 2018
Akshay S/o Balaji Chitale,
Age : 24 Years, Occu. : Education,
R/o Tuppa, Tq. Nanded,
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Dist. Nanded. .. Petitioner
Versus
1. The State of Maharashtra,
Through its Secretary,
Higher & Technical Education
Department, Mantralaya,
Mumbai.
2. The Scheduled Tribe Caste Certificate
Verification Committee, Aurangabad,
Through its Member Secretary,
Aurangabad.
3. The Principal,
Degree College of Physical Education,
HVPM, Hanuman Vyayam Naga,
Near Shri Ekvira Devi Temple,
Amravati, Dist. Amravati. .. Respondents
Shri Sunil M. Vibhute, Advocate for the Petitioner.
Shri S. B. Yawalkar, Addl. G.P. for the Respondent Nos. 1 and 2.
The Respondent No. 3 is served.
WITH
WRIT PETITION NO. 4562 OF 2019
Shubham S/o Gangadhar Chitale,
Age : 25 Years, Occu. : Student,
R/o At post Tuppa, Tq. Nanded,
Dist. Nanded. .. Petitioner
Versus
1. The State of Maharashtra,
Through its Secretary,
Tribal Development Department,
Mantralaya, Mumbai - 32.
2. The Director of Medical Education,
Saint John Hospital Campus,
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Mumbai - 32.
3. Maharashtra University of Health
Sciences, Through its Registrar,
Dindori Road, Mhasrul,
Nasik, District Nasik.
4. Scheduled Tribe Certificate
Verification Committee, Aurangabad,
Dist. Aurangabad Through its
Joint Director, CIDCO,
Aurangabad.
5. The Dean,
Dr. Panjabrao @ Bhausaheb Deshmukh
Memorial Medical College,
Amravati. .. Respondents
Shri Chandrakant R. Thorat, Advocate for the Petitioner.
Shri S. B. Yawalkar, Addl. G.P. for the Respondent Nos. 1, 2 & 4.
CORAM : MANGESH S. PATIL AND
SANDEEP V. MARNE, JJ.
DATE : 03.10.2022.
JUDGMENT (Per Sandeep V. Marne, J.) :-
. Rule. Rule made returnable forthwith. With the consent
of parties taken up for final hearing.
2. The petitioners Rushali and Akshay are children of Balaji
Gunaji Chitale. The third petitioner Shubham Gangadhar
Chitale is also paternal side relative of Balaji Gunaji Chitale.
Balaji Gunaji Chitale was issued with validity certificate dated
16.08.2008 in respect of 'Mannervarlu" Scheduled Tribe. The
tribe claims of Rushali Chitale and Akshay Chitale were rejected
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by the Caste Scrutiny Committee, Aurangabad by order dated
19.10.2018. The caste claim of the Shubham Gangadhar Chitale
has been rejected by order dated 26.03.2019.
3. Rejection of caste claims of Rushali and Akshay triggered
issuance of show cause notice to their father Balaji Gunaji
Chitale proposing cancellation of his validity certificate. The
committee also issued similar show cause notices to several
relatives of Balaji for cancellation of their validity certificates on
account of rejection of tribe claims of Rushali and Akshay.
4. The show cause notices issued to Balaji Chitale and other
relatives came to be challenged before this Court by filing several
writ petitions. By judgment and order dated 08.09.2022 passed
in Writ Petition No. 2552 of 2019 (filed by Balaji Gunaji Chitale)
and other connected writ petitions, this Court set aside the show
cause notices on the ground that there was no finding of fraud,
misrepresentation or gross suppression of material facts while
issuance of validity certificates in their favour. Since the show
cause notices came to be set aside, the claim of Balaji Gunaji
Chitale and other relatives of 'Mannervarlu' scheduled tribe has
attained finality.
5. Following the decision of the Apex Court in the case of
Apoorva Nichale Vs. Divisional Caste Certificate Scrutiny
Committee reported in 2010(6) Mh. L. J. 403, the tribe claims of
the three petitioners Rushali D/o Balaji Chitale, Akshay S/o
Balaji Chitale and Shubham S/o Gangadhar Chitale are also
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required to be upheld.
6. Mr. Yawalkar, the learned Additional Government Pleader
appearing for respondents/State Government opposes the
present petitions contending that while deciding the tribe claims
of the petitioners, the Committee has recorded a finding of
correction of entries relating to caste from 'Mannurwar' to
"Mannervarlu" by the Education Officer in respect of some of the
relatives. However, this aspect has already been taken into
consideration and dealt with in the judgment of Balaji S/o Gunaji
Chitale (supra). Mr. Yawalkar would further contend that the
petitioners have not been able to prove their tribe claim in the
affinity test. The Apex Court in the case of Anand Vs.
Committee reported in (2012) 1 SCC 113 has held that the
affinity test is not a litmus test. Furthermore, since the tribe
claim of father of the petitioners Rushali and Akshay, namely
Balaji Chitale has attained finality, the claims of his children
Rushali and Akshay cannot be rejected on the ground of affinity
test. Rather the decision in the case of Apoorva Nichale (supra)
mandates upholding of tribe claims of the petitioners on account
of finality of the validity certificates issued in favour of Balaji
and other relatives.
7. Consequently, we allow the petitions by setting aside the
orders passed by the Scrutiny Committee dated 19.10.2018 in the
case of Rushali Balaji Chitale and Akshay Balaji Chitale as well
as order dated 26.03.2019 passed in the case of Shubham
Gangadhar Chitale. We direct the Scheduled Tribe Certificate
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Scrutiny Committee, Aurangabad to issue validity certificates in
favour of the respective petitioners within a period of eight (08)
weeks from today. Rule is made absolute in above terms. There
shall be no order as to costs.
[SANDEEP V. MARNE, J.] [MANGESH S. PATIL, J.]
bsb/Oct. 22
