Bombay High Court
Krupa Santosh Raut vs The State Of Maharashtra Through Its ... on 7 August, 2024
Author: Mangesh S. Patil
Bench: Mangesh S. Patil
2024:BHC-AUG:17781-DB
1 942.WP-7782-2024.doc
IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT BOMBAY
BENCH AT AURANGABAD
Writ Petition No. 7782 OF 2024
Krupa Santosh Raut
Age 18 years, Occu. Student,
Gut No.158 Near Chate School, Satara
Dist. & Taq. Chh. Sambhajinagar. ...Petitioner
Versus
1. The State of Maharashtra,
Through its Secretary,
Department of Tribal Development,
Mantralaya, Mumbai.
2. The Scheduled Tribe Certificate Scrutiny
Committee, Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar,
Through its Member Secretary. ...Respondents
___
Mr. Vivekanand U. Jadhav, Advocate for the Petitioner.
Mr. V.M. Chate, AGP for Respondents/State.
___
CORAM : MANGESH S. PATIL &
SHAILESH P. BRAHME, JJ..
DATE : 07 AUGUST 2024
FINAL ORDER [Per: Shailesh P. Brahme, J.] :
. Heard both the sides finally considering urgency in the
matter.
2. The petitioner is challenging judgment and order dated
2 942.WP-7782-2024.doc
04.07.2024 passed by the Scrutiny Committee, confiscating and
invalidating her tribe certificate of 'Koli Mahadev' Scheduled
Tribe. According to her, validity certificate of her father Santosh
Pundlik Raut was reliable one and arbitrarily discarded by the
Scrutiny Committee.
3. Learned AGP supports impugned judgment and order. He
would submit that the Committee is justified in rejecting caste
claim considering contrary school record of close relatives,
Navnath, Janka, Rukhmani, Padmini, Kisabai and Hanumant. He
tenders on record original papers of validity holder Santosh to
show that earlier validity holder in his matter, Dhondiram was
not found in the genealogy.
4. We have considered the rival submissions of the parties. In
the matter of Santosh, vigilance inquiry was conducted. The
vigilance report which is on record indicates that oldest school
record of Pundlik of 1949 was verified. It is further reported that
Pundlik with stood affinity test. It reveals from the original
papers that by a speaking order, Santosh was issued with
validity certificate by the Committee. We have no iota of doubt
that certificate of validity of Santosh corroborates petitioner's
claim and should not have been discarded.
5. The oldest entry of Pundlik supports the petitioner's claim.
The contrary entries indicated by the learned AGP are of
subsequent in time. The Scrutiny Committee has proposed re-
3 942.WP-7782-2024.doc
verification of validity of Santosh. It would be open for the
Committee to find out as to whether there is any fraud in issuing
validity certificate to Santosh in the re-verification. Presently, the
petitioner cannot be denied the social status claimed by her.
6. Petitioner is ready to run the risk as per the judgment
rendered in the matter of Shweta Balaji Isankar Vs. the State of
Maharashtra and Others, in Writ Petition No.5611/2018. She is
entitled to receive validity certificate conditionally. We, therefore,
pass following order :
ORDER
a. The writ petition is allowed partly .
b. The judgment and order dated 04.07.2024 passed
by the Scrutiny Committee is quashed and set aside.
c. The Scrutiny Committee shall issue tribe validity
certificate of 'Koli Mahadev' scheduled tribe to the
petitioner forthwith. The same shall be subject to the
outcome of re-verification proposed by the Scrutiny
Committee.
d. The petitioner shall not be entitled to claim equities.
SHAILESH P. BRAHME MANGESH S. PATIL
JUDGE JUDGE
Najeeb..
