Bombay High Court
Ku. Gauri D/O Vinay Palliwar Minor ... vs The State Of Maharashtra, Thr. Its ... on 9 August, 2023
Bench: A.S. Chandurkar, Vrushali V. Joshi
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IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT BOMBAY
NAGPUR BENCH : NAGPUR
WRIT PETITION NO. 3871/2023
Ku. Gauri D/o. Vinay Palliwar,
Aged About 17 Years, Occ. : Student (Minor)
Through her Legal Guardian/Mother
Rajlaxmi Vinay Palliwar,
Aged about 46 years, Occ. Housewife,
R/o. Shastri Chowk, Podar Bagicha,
Near Andhra Bank, Wardha,
Ta. & Dist. Wardha. ----PETITIONER
--VERSUS--
1. The State of Maharashtra,
Through its Secretary,
Tribal Development Department,
Mantralaya, Mumbai - 32.
2. The Scheduled Tribe Certificate Scrutiny
Committee, Nagpur Division, Giripeth,
Nagpur. ----RESPONDENTS
Mr. A. I. Sheikh, Advocate for Petitioner.
Ms. S. S. Jachak, Assistant Government Pleader for Respondents/State.
CORAM : A.S.CHANDURKAR AND MRS.VRUSHALI V. JOSHI, JJ.
DATED : AUGUST 09, 2023
ORAL JUDGMENT (PER : A.S.CHANDURKAR, J.)
1. Rule. Rule made returnable forthwith and heard the learned
Counsel for the parties.
2. The challenge raised is to the order passed by the Scrutiny
Committee on 20.07.2020 invalidating the petitioner's claim of belonging
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to 'Mannewar' Schedulede Tribe. To substantiate the claim as made, the
petitioner relied upon various pre-constitutional documents of her
forefathers including the School Leaving Certificate of the brother of the
petitioner's grandfather Kishore. In that document, the date of birth has
been shown as 31.07.1944, the date of admission is shown as 11.05.1956
and the date of leaving the school is shown as 30.04.1966. The same has
the entry 'Mannewar'. In view of the fact that some other documents of
the year 1930, 1941 and 1944 had the entry Telgu/Telangi, the Scrutiny
Committee has invalidated the petitioner's claim.
3. We have heard the learned Counsel for the parties and with
their assistance we have also perused the documents on record along with
the report of the Vigilance Cell. The report of the Vigilance Cell indicates
that in the School Leaving Certificate of the brother of the petitioner's
grandfather, the entry 'Mannewar' figures. It has then observed that in
subsequent documents the word Telgu/Telangi has been found. On this
basis, the Scrutiny Committee has proceeded to invalid the claim. The
effect of the entries Telgu/Telangi has been considered by this Court in
various proceedings and especially in the decisions in Writ Petition
No.5090/2003 (Shri Anil Ramdas Mede Vs. The State of Maharashtra and
Ors.) decided on 26.08.2004, in Writ Petition No.1311/2012 (Nitin s/o.
Ramesh Uprellu Vs. The State of Maharashtra and Anr.) decided on
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30.11.2012 and in Writ Petition No. 5119/2016 (Manish son of Bansidhar
Panchgam Vs. State of Maharashtra and Ors.) decided on 10.04.2017. It
has been held that there is no caste as Telgu/Telangi and the said words
refer to the region that was part of the erstwhile State of Andhra Pradesh.
We thus find that the claim of the petitioner has been invalidated only on
the ground that there were entries of Telgu/Telangi. The reasoning of the
Scrutiny Committee is against the decisions referred to.
4. Since the Scrutiny Committee misdirected itself while
invalidating the petitioner's claim, its order is unsustainable. The same is
liable to be set aside. Accordingly, the following order is passed :
i] The order passed by the Scrutiny Committee dated
20.07.2020 is quashed and set aside.
ii] It is declared that the petitioner has proved that she
belongs to 'Mannewar' Scheduled Tribe. The Scrutiny
Committee shall within a period of three weeks from
today issue Validity Certificate in favour of the
petitioner.
iii] Till the petitioner receives the Validity Certificate, she is
free to rely upon the copy of this judgment to indicate
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that her claim of belonging to 'Mannewar' Scheduled
Tribe has been accepted.
5. Rule is made absolute in the aforesaid terms. No order as to
costs.
(MRS.VRUSHALI V. JOSHI, J.) (A.S.CHANDURKAR, J.)
RGurnule .
