Ambika Ramchandra Thakur vs Scheduled Tribe Certificate ...
2023 Latest Caselaw 6817 Bom

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        IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT BOMBAY
                   BENCH AT AURANGABAD

                       WRIT PETITION NO. 126 OF 2020

          Ambika d/o Ramchandra Thakur,
          Age : 30 years, Occu. : Service
          R/o Sayghavan, Tq. Kannad,
          District Aurangabad,
          Mob. No. 9850817694                          ..   Petitioner

                   Versus

 1.       Scheduled Tribe Certificate
          Scrutiny Committee,
          Aurangabad Division, Aurangabad,
          Through its Member Secretary

 2.       Deputy Conservator Forest,
          Aurangabad Forest Division,
          Aurangabad Station Road,
          Aurangabad.                                  ..   Respondents

 Shri Mahesh S. Deshmukh, Advocate for the Petitioner.
 Mrs. M. A. Deshpande, A.G.P. for the Respondent Nos. 1 and 2.

                           CORAM :    MANGESH S. PATIL AND
                                      SHAILESH P. BRAHME, JJ.
                               DATE : 11 JULY 2023.

 FINAL ORDER (Per Shailesh P. Brahme, J.) :


 .        Heard learned advocate for respective parties. Matter is
 taken up for final adjudication with their consent at admission
 stage.


 2.       This petition takes exception to the judgment and order
 dated 02.12.2019 passed by the respondent No. 1/Scrutiny




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 Committee invalidating the tribe claim of the petitioner as
 belonging to 'Thakur' (Scheduled Tribe).


 3.       The petitioner relies upon validity certificates issued to her
 cousin Snehal, Roshan and uncle Suresh. The genealogy is at
 page No. 27 of the petition, which is undisputed. Besides that
 there are affidavits, extracts of the school record to support the
 claim of the petitioner.


 4.       The Scrutiny Committee rejected the claim of the
 petitioner because the school record of the blood relatives and the
 revenue record was not compatible to the claim of the petitioner.
 The place of residence of the ancestors was also incompatible.
 There were contrary entries of the blood relatives. The vigilance
 report was against the petitioner.


 5.       The validity certificates were discarded because due
 procedure was not followed and there was suppression of
 material facts while issuing the validities.


 6.       The learned Assistant Government Pleader for respondent
 Nos. 1 and 2 supports the impugned judgment and order. He
 submits that validity certificate was issued to Snehal on certain
 conditions.         The Committee has proposed to reopen validity
 certificates of Suresh, Snehal and Roshan.


 7.       Having considered rival submissions, we notice that the
 relationship is undisputed. Snehal was given conditional validity



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 in pursuance to the order passed by the High Court in Writ
 Petition No. 7628 of 2018. The judicial concomitance requires
 that we should also follow the decision of the coordinate bench.


 8.       We are guided by the law laid down by the Supreme Court
 in     the     matter         of   Maharashtra   Adavasi       Thakur        Jamat

 Swarakshak Samiti Vs. State of Maharashtra and others

 reported in 2023(2) Mh.L.J. 785.


 9.       The Scrutiny Committee has arbitrarily rejected the tribe
 claim of the petitioner. We have no other alternative than to
 accept the validity certificates of Snehal, Roshan and Suresh.
 The impugned judgment and order warrants interference.
 However, we propose to issue validity to the petitioner
 conditionally.


 10.      For the reasons stated above, we pass following order.


                                        ORDER

A. The writ petition is partly allowed.

B. The judgment and order dated 02.12.2019 passed by the respondent No. 1/Scrutiny Committee is quashed and set aside.

C. The respondent No. 1/Scrutiny Committee shall issue validity certificate of 'Thakur' (Scheduled Tribe) to the petitioner within a period of two (02) weeks from today.

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 D.       The validity certificate issued to the petitioner shall be

subject to the decision of the Committee in case of revocation or cancellation of certificates of validity holders, relied by the petitioner.

E. The petitioner shall not claim any equity in case the validity certificates of the blood relatives are revoked or cancelled.

F. The writ petition is disposed of. There shall be no order as to costs.

[ SHAILESH P. BRAHME, J.] [ MANGESH S. PATIL, J.] bsb/July 23