Bombay High Court
Rajeshwar Rajendra Sonkamble vs State Of Maha., Thr. Its Principal ... on 20 September, 2025
Author: M. S. Jawalkar
Bench: M. S. Jawalkar
2025:BHC-NAG:9477-DB
Judgment 1 J-WP No.5435.2024.odt
IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT BOMBAY,
NAGPUR BENCH, NAGPUR.
WRIT PETITION NO. 5435 OF 2024
Shri Rajeshwar Rajendra Sonkamble,
Aged about 19 years, Occ.- Student,
R/o. Shivaji Square, Near Railway
Station Square, Amravati,
Tq. and Dist. Amravati.
.... PETITIONER
// VERSUS //
1) The State of Maharashtra,
Through its Principal Secretary,
Tribal Development Department,
Mantralaya Mumbai-32.
2) The Schedule Tribe Certificate
Scrutiny Committee, Amravati,
Through its Deputy Director,
Amravati
.... RESPONDENTS
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Mr. A. I. Sheikh, Advocate for Petitioner.
Ms. S. S. Jachak, Additional Government Pleader for
Respondent Nos.1 and 2.
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CORAM : MRS. M. S. JAWALKAR AND
RAJ D. WAKODE, JJ.
DATE ON RESERVING THE JUDGMENT : 09.09.2025.
DATE ON PRONOUNCING THE JUDGMENT : 20.09.2025.
JUDGMENT :
(Per - M. S. JAWALKAR, J.)
Judgment 2 J-WP No.5435.2024.odt
1. Heard. Rule. Rule is made returnable forthwith.
Matter is taken up for final hearing at the stage of admission by
consent of the parties and at the request of parties.
2. The Petitioner, by this Petition, is challenging
the impugned order dated 22/07/2024; passed by the
Respondent No.2 - Scheduled Tribe Certificate Scrutiny
Committee, Amravati, whereby invalidated the caste claim of the
Petitioner, as "Mannewar" Scheduled Tribe.
3. The Petitioner submitted that he is a student
appeared in NEET examination. The Petitioner belongs to tribe
"Mannewar" which comes under the category of Scheduled Tribe
in the State of Maharashtra and this entry is at Serial No.18 of
the Constitution (Schedule Tribe) Order, 1950. The contention
of the Petitioner is that he has submitted his tribe claim through
College on 14/03/2023 to Respondent No.2 - Scrutiny
Committee for verification of his caste claim and for issuing
validity certificate. It is submitted that the Vigilance Cell had
Judgment 3 J-WP No.5435.2024.odt
conducted an inquiry and submitted it's report dated
15/01/2024 to the Scrutiny Committee. The Scrutiny
Committee issued a show cause notice to the Petitioner on
17/01/2024 thereby sought explanation on the Vigilance
Report. As all the documents mentioned in the said show cause
notice were already considered while granting the Validity
Certificate dated 16/02/2022 to the cousin sister of the
Petitioner namely Komal Fakirchand Sonkamble therefore, the
Petitioner has requested the Committee to consider the same
reply which was submitted in the case of Komal Fakirchand
Sonkamble on 15/11/2016, as reply of the Petitioner.
4. The Petitioner, in support of his claim, submitted the
following documents of pre-constitutional period having entries
of "Mannewar" :
Sr. Name Document Relation Entry Date
No. Type
1 Malanna Leaving Brother of Mannewar 02.07.1926
Ramayya Certificate Grandfather
2 Malanna School Brother of Mannewar 02.07.1926
Ramayya Extract Grandfather
3 Kumaraswami Leaving Grandfather Mannewar 09.07.1930
alias Papanna Certificate
Judgment 4 J-WP No.5435.2024.odt
4 Girl born to Birth Entry Daughter of Mannewar 22.10.1930
Ramanna Ramji Great
Grandfather
5 Girl born to Birth Entry Daughter of Mannewar 22.10.1930
Ramanna Ramji Great
Grandfather
6 Kamla Ramaiyya School Sister of Telgu 16.06.1939
Extract Grandfather Mannewar
7 Balaram Ramaiyya School Brother of Telgu 19.06.1944
Extract Grandfather Mannewar
8 Krushnaswami School Brother of Telgu 08.08.1946
Ramaiyya Extract Grandfather Mannewar
Along with these documents, the Petitioner also
submitted four validity certificates issued to his close blood
relatives.
5. The Petitioner contended that the Respondent
Committee without considering the important documents and
validity certificates issued to his close blood relatives, rejected
the claim of the Petitioner on wrong interpretation and baseless
reasons and therefore, the impugned order needs to be set aside.
6. The learned Counsel for the Petitioner relied on the
following citations :
Judgment 5 J-WP No.5435.2024.odt
(i) State of Maharashtra Vs. Mana Adim Jamat Mandal,
reported in 2006 (3) Mh.L.J. 407 and
(ii) Writ Petition No. 5728/2019, (Ku. Arya D/o
Mahendra Swami Vs. The State of Maharashtra &
Ors.), dated 23/09/2019.
7. As against this, Respondent No.2 contended that
there is overwriting and striking of earlier entries and usage of
different inks and handwriting in relation to the caste entries in
the documents submitted by the Petitioner. These factors create
a serious doubt about the said entries, thereby negating the
evidentiary value of these documents and entries. The
Respondent No.2 specifically contended that the School extract
dated 09/07/1930 in respect of grandfather of Petitioner was
found to be torned in corner upon inspection by the Vigilance
Cell therefore, its authenticity cannot be proved, whereas the
School extract dated 01/07/1975 in respect of the father of the
Petitioner was found to be over-stricken from Telgu to
Mannewar. The tribe claim of the cousin uncle of Petitioner
namely Sanjaykumar Ramdas Sonkamble has been invalidated
by the Committee on 29/09/2009.
Judgment 6 J-WP No.5435.2024.odt
8. The Respondent No.2 further contended that after
perusal of the documents from the year 1939 to 1984, it is clear
that the Petitioner belongs to "Telangi" Caste which comes under
Nomadic Tribes C (N.T.-C.) and does not belong to 'Mannewar'
Scheduled Tribe as claimed by the Petitioner. The Respondent
No.2 further submitted that during the inquiry, the Petitioner
could not prove his Socio-cultural affinity with the Mannewar
Schedule Tribe and therefore, the order of invaliding the claim
of the Petitioner was rightly passed by the Respondent
Committee. The Respondent Committee relied on the Judgment
of this Court in Writ Petition No.5181/2004, (Sanjaykumar S/o
Ramdas Sonkamble Vs. The State of Maharashtra & Ors. ), dated
20th October, 2015.
9. Heard both sides at length. Perused the documents
placed on record and considered the citations relied on by both
the parties.
10. For the sake of convenience family tree is reproduced
below :-
Judgment 7 J-WP No.5435.2024.odt
11. There are four validity certificates granted to the
blood relatives of the Petitioner. Ku. Arya Mahendra Swami, who
is cousin sister of the Petitioner granted validity as she belonging
to "Mannewar" Scheduled Tribe. Second validity is granted to
Yogesh Deepak Sonkamble, who is uncle of the Petitioner. The
validity in favour of Mahendra Papanna Swami and Komal
Fakirchand Sonkamble were also granted on 16/02/2022. All
these validities are granted in view of the order passed by this
Court in Writ Petition No.5728/2019. The Caste Scrutiny
Committee, without appreciating the fact that there is an order
of this Court while granting validity to the blood relatives of the
Petitioner rejected the claim of the Petitioner. Though it is
mentioned by the Respondent Committee that there are five
Judgment 8 J-WP No.5435.2024.odt
validities in favour of relatives of the Petitioner and it is also
recorded that as per the order of this Court the same is granted,
however, in remark, it is mentioned that when Police Vigilance
Cell visited the concerned school, it was found that the word
"Telgu" was scored out and "Mannewar" is written in its place.
There is a signature of Headmaster on that scoring and there is a
remark of Education Officer. Only because, though there is a
remark that order of Education Officer is mentioned, however,
the Headmaster was unable to place the copy of order, the entry
is discarded.
12. So far as Telgu along with Mannewar is concerned,
this issue has already been considered in the matter of Ku. Arya
Mahendra Swami (Writ Petition No.5728/2019). In para 5 of the
said Judgment is as under :
"5. We find that the petitioner has produced
several pre-constitutional documents showing
entry of 'Mannewar' caste. Particularly, petitioner
has produced School Leaving Certificate of her
cousin grandfather namely Mallanna Ramaiya
dated 02.07.1926, School Leaving Certificate of
her grandfather - Kumarswami @ Papanna dated
26.09.1935, birth date extract of her great-
grandfather-Ramanna dated 22.10.1930. All
Judgment 9 J-WP No.5435.2024.odt
these document bear the entry of 'Mannewar'
caste. Though some of the old documents
collected by the Vigilance Cell shows the entry of
caste as 'Telangi', 'Telgu Mannewar'. These entry
merely indicate the language and not caste. The
said issue is well covered by the decision of this
Court in Writ Petition No.4316/2017 (Shri
Suresh Kumar Balkrishna Naidu Vs. The State of
Maharashtra and another) decided on
04.04.2019. The documents therefore, have to
be considered as it indicates that tribe name of
'Mannewar' which is entered right from the year
1916. Apart from this, there are other entries
subsequent to the year 1950 indicating the caste
of the blood relative as 'Mannewar'."
13. It appears that the Scrutiny Committee acting above
the orders of the Court. It is not a case that Caste Scrutiny
Committee is not aware about the issuance of Caste Validity
Certificate to Ku. Arya Mahendra Swami as "Mannewar" as per
the order of this Court. In spite of this, the Scrutiny Committee
erroneously acted contrary to the order passed by this Court, it
may amount to contempt of this Court.
14. So far as invalidation of caste claim of Sanjaykumar
Ramdas Sonkamble is concerned, it was challenged before the
High Court. The documents collected by the Vigilance Cell in
Judgment 10 J-WP No.5435.2024.odt
Serial Nos.2, 3, 4, 5, 6 and 8, all these entries are not in relation
to the Petitioner and not their names are appearing in the family
tree. Moreover, all these entries at Serial No.5 to 10 are of the
period subsequent to 1950. Though entries of serial No.2, 3 and
4 are prior to 1950, they are not in relation with the Petitioner.
The Scrutiny Committee failed to establish that how these
entries are of the relatives of the Petitioner. While relying on
these documents, the Scrutiny Committee acted contrary to the
Judgment passed by this Court in the case of Ku. Arya Mahendra
Swami. The Caste Scrutiny Committee has taken into account
irrelevant material for discarding the claim and failed to
consider the old entry as Mannewar of 09/07/1930 in respect of
Kumaraswami alias Papanna. This document is discarded only
on the ground that Admit Cancel Register and affidavit are in
dialapidated condition. There is entry of 02/07/1926 in respect
of Malanna Ramayya, wherein he shown as Mannewar which
was duly verified by the Vigilance Cell and another entry of
22/10/1930 in respect of great-grandfather, this entry is also
verified by the Vigilance Cell.
Judgment 11 J-WP No.5435.2024.odt
15. As held in Writ Petition No.5728/2019 (Ku. Arya
Mahendra Swami Vs. The State of Maharashtra & Anr. ), "Telgu"
is the language and not any caste. All these documents are duly
verified by the Vigilance Cell in fact, there is no necessity at all
to conduct the vigilance inquiry as after conducting vigilance,
the certificates were issued in fvour of five relative of the
Petitioner. In spite of this fact, the Caste Scrutiny Committee
again directed the vigilance cell inquiry, which is contrary to the
provisions of law. The old documents dated 02/07/1926,
09/07/1930 and 22/10/1930 have not given due weightage and
ignored its probative value by the Caste Scrutiny Committee.
When the issue of Telgu entry is already covered by the
Judgment of this Court in the case of Ku. Arya Mahendra
Swami, there was no reason for the Caste Scrutiny Committee to
again open up that issue and on the basis of which, invalidated
the caste claim of the Petitioner.
16. As such, the impugned order is erroneous, perverse
and not sustainable in the eyes of law. Accordingly, we proceed
to pass following order :
Judgment 12 J-WP No.5435.2024.odt
(i) The Writ Petition is allowed.
(ii) The impugned order dated 22/07/2024, passed by
the Respondent No.2 - Scheduled Tribe Certificate
Scrutiny Committee, Amravati in case No. lvk/
vtizrl/ve/5/503/Edu/032023/209011, is hereby
quashed and set aside.
(iii) It is declared that the Petitioner duly established that
he belongs to "Mannewar" Scheduled Tribe.
(iv) The Respondent Scheduled Tribe Certificate Scrutiny
Committee, Amravati is hereby directed to issue a
validity certificate of "Mannewar" to the Petitioner
within a period of four weeks.
The Writ Petition stands disposed of in the above
terms. No order as to costs.
(RAJ D. WAKODE, J.) (SMT. M.S. JAWALKAR, J.)
Kirtak
Signed by: Mr. B.J. Kirtak
Designation: PA To Honourable Judge
Date: 20/09/2025 18:53:24
