Bombay High Court
Sunil S/O Parvatrao Thakur (@ Sunil S/O ... vs State Of Maha., Dept., Tribal ... on 23 January, 2024
Author: M.S. Jawalkar
Bench: Avinash G. Gharote, M.S. Jawalkar
2024:BHC-NAG:925-DB
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IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT BOMBAY
NAGPUR BENCH, NAGPUR
WRIT PETITION NO.2249/2023
Sunil s/o Parvatrao Thakur
(@ Sunil s/o Parvatrao Chavan)
aged 61 years, occu. Retired, R/o
Gandhi Nagar, Besides Wadhwani
Mangal Karyalaya, Chikhali,
Tq. Chikhali, Dist. Buldana.
....PETITIONER
...VERSUS...
1. The State of Maharashtra,
Department of Tribal Development,
Mantralaya, Mumbai-32, through its
Secretary.
2. The Chairman, the Scheduled Tribe
Caste Certificate Verification
Committee, Amravati Division,
Dist. Amravati.
3. The Deputy Superintendent of
Police, Office of Superintendent of
Police, Buldana, Dist. Buldana.
...RESPONDENTS
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Shri G.R. Kothari, Advocate for petitioner
Shri A.M. Joshi, AGP for respondent Nos.1 to 3
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
CORAM : AVINASH G. GHAROTE AND
SMT. M.S. JAWALKAR, JJ..
DATE OF RESERVING THE JUDGMENT : 15/01/2024
DATE OF PRONOUNCING THE JUDGMENT: 23/01/2024
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JUDGMENT (PER : SMT. M.S. JAWALKAR, J.)
Heard.
2. Rule. Rule made returnable forthwith. Heard finally with
the consent of Shri Kothari, learned Counsel for petitioner and
Shri A.M. Joshi, learned AGP for respondent Nos.1 to 3.
3. The challenge to the petition is to the order of invalidation of
the Caste claim of the petitioner by the Caste Scrutiny Committee,
Amravati. The petitioner claims to be belonging to "Thakur"
Scheduled Tribe, which is recognized at Sr. No.44 in the
Constitution (Scheduled Tribe) Order, 1950. The petitioner is
retired from the post of Assistant Sub Inspector. It is contended
that the petitioner had applied for the Tribe certificate as he
belongs to "Thakur" Scheduled Tribe before Sub Divisional Office
at Buldhana and in the year 1984, Sub Divisional Office issued
Tribe certificate in favour of petitioner. On the basis of tribe
certificate petitioner was appointed in the Police Department in
the year 1984 and was retired from service in the year 2020 from
the post of Assistant Sub Inspector. It is further contended that
the respondent No.3 referred the Tribe claim of the petitioner to
the respondent No.2 Scrutiny Committee on 02/11/2012 for its
verification. It handed over the proposal to the Vigilance Cell.
4. It is contended that the Scrutiny Committee, Aurangabad
had issued Validity certificate to the daughter of petitioner namely
Ku. Priti Sunil Chauhan on 30/08/2002 and to his real niece
namely Ku. Sapna Ramesh Chauhan on 21/04/2001. The
petitioner in support of his Tribe claim filed several documents
including pre-independance documents and validity certificate
issued to his blood relatives from paternal side which were
discarded by the Scrutiny committee and passed impugned order.
5. It appears that there is oldest documents in respect of
Rama Kondaji Thakur, extract of death register dated 01/08/1916
wherein he is shown as belong to Thakur Tribe. He is Great-
grand-father of the petitioner. Similarly, there are documents
dated 02/07/1923, in respect of petitioner's grand-father in his
school leaving certificate wherein he was shown as belonging to
Thakur Tribe. Similarly there are documents dated 14/07/1962
and 17/07/1968 and thereafter consistently showing that person
in blood relation of the petitioner as belonging to Thakur Tribe.
Not only this, there is validity certificate issued by Aurangabad
Scrutiny Committee in respect of Sapna Chavan dated 21/04/2001
and Priti Chavan dated 30/08/2002 issued by Aurangabad
Scrutiny Committee. In the said validity certificate, Priti and
Sapna both were shown belonging to Thakur Scheduled Tribe.
There is no dispute over genealogical tree and relation of
petitioner with Priti and Sapna.
6. In view of decision in Writ Petition No.2685/2022, it is
already held by this Court that the ground of rejection put-forth in
the impugned order is illegal as there is no law which restrict, the
validity certificate only to the area over which the Scrutiny
Committee has its jurisdiction. Once the validity certificate is
granted to a claimant, it would become conclusive proof of social
status acquired by that person for all purpose and in any territory
where such proof is required to be submitted.
7. In our considered opinion, the only reason for not
considering those validity certificates appears to be that the same
was issued by Scheduled Tribe Scrutiny Committee, Aurangabad.
Another ground for rejection appears to be that on the certificate,
petitioner's surname is mentioned as Thakur. However, the
validity certificate in respect of daughter and niece is mentioned
as Chavan. Needless to mention here that the petitioner placed on
record Government Notification dated 30/09/1999 by which he
changed his name from Sunil Thakur to Sunil Chavan. As such,
this ground also does not survive. Once the validity certificate is
granted to a claimant, it becomes the conclusive proof of the social
status acquired by that person for all purpose and in any territory
where such proof is required to be submitted. Therefore, such
validity certificate can also be used as having sufficient
evidentiary value in the caste or tribe claim placed by the other
relatives of a person in whose favour, those certificates are issued.
As such, reasoning adopted by the Scrutiny Committee is totally
erroneous and contrary to the law laid down by this Court. As
such, petitioner is entitled to have his tribe certificate validated by
the Scrutiny Committee as per his changed name.
8. The petition is allowed in terms of prayer Clause 'A'. The
Scheduled Tribe Caste Certificate Verification Committee,
Amravati is directed to issue validity certificate to the petitioner as
belonging to "Thakur" Scheduled Tribe within a period of three
weeks from the date of this order.
9. Rule is made absolute in above terms. No costs.
JUDGE JUDGE
R.S. Sahare
Signed by: Mrs. Ranjana Sahare
Designation: PA To Honourable Judge
Date: 23/01/2024 18:13:29
