Case Note & Summary
The petitioner, filed a writ petition after the Scheduled Tribe Certificate Scrutiny Committee invalidated his caste claim as 'Mahadev Koli, Scheduled Tribe' -- The petitioner argued that his father and real brother held valid caste certificates, and under established legal principles, his claim should be accepted -- The Scrutiny Committee contended that the earlier certificates were issued without proper Vigilance Cell enquiry and that documents showed interpolations -- The High Court, referencing Supreme Court and its own precedents, held that validity certificates issued to close blood relatives are binding unless proven fraudulent -- The Court found no evidence of fraud in the issuance of the relatives' certificates and quashed the Committee's order, directing the issuance of a validity certificate to the petitioner.
Headnote
The High Court of Judicature at Bombay, in its Civil Appellate Jurisdiction, heard a writ petition challenging the invalidation of the petitioner's caste claim as belonging to 'Mahadev Koli, Scheduled Tribe' by the Scheduled Tribe Certificate Scrutiny Committee -- The petitioner relied on validity certificates issued to his father and real brother -- The Court examined the provisions of the Maharashtra Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, De-notified Tribes (Vimukta Jatis), Nomadic Tribes, Other Backward Classes and Special Backward Category (Regulation of Issuance and Verification of) Caste Certificate Act, 2000 and the Rules framed thereunder -- Applying the Supreme Court's decision in Maharashtra Adiwasi Thakur Jamat Swarakshan Samiti vs. State of Maharashtra and this Court's decision in Apoorva d/o Vinay Nichale vs. Divisional Caste Certificate Scrutiny Committee No. 1, the Court held that the Scrutiny Committee erred in discarding the validity certificates without evidence of fraud -- The Court directed the issuance of a validity certificate to the petitioner, quashing the impugned order
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Issue of Consideration: Whether the Scrutiny Committee was justified in discarding the validity certificates of the petitioner's blood relatives and invalidating the petitioner's caste claim
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Final Decision
The High Court allowed the writ petition, quashed the impugned order dated 19/06/2023 passed by the Scrutiny Committee, and directed the Committee to issue a validity certificate in favour of the petitioner as belonging to 'Mahadev Koli, Scheduled Tribe'
2026 LawText (BOM) (02) 11
Writ Petition No. 15653 of 2023
M.S. Karnik J. , S.M. Modak J.
Mr. R.K. Mendadkar a/w Mrs. Priyanka Shaw, Mr. Jagdish C. Kawale, Mrs. Prajakta Pashte for the Petitioner, Mr. Arun Padekar, Law Officer, Nashik, Mr. A.I. Patel, Addl. GP a/w Smt. V.S. Nimbalkar, AGP for Respondent-State
Harshwardhan Devidas Gangurde
State of Maharashtra through its Secretary, Tribal Development Department, Scheduled Tribe Certificate Scrutiny Committee, Nashik – 2 Division, Pune Vidyarthi Griha’s Shriram Sadashiv Dhamankar College of Commerce, Science & Arts
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Nature of Litigation: Writ petition challenging the invalidation of caste claim by the Scheduled Tribe Certificate Scrutiny Committee
Remedy Sought
Petitioner seeks quashing of the Scrutiny Committee's order and issuance of a validity certificate for 'Mahadev Koli, Scheduled Tribe'
Filing Reason
The Scrutiny Committee invalidated the petitioner's caste claim despite validity certificates held by his father and real brother
Previous Decisions
The Scrutiny Committee issued an order on 19/06/2023 invalidating the petitioner's caste claim, citing issues with earlier validity certificates and Vigilance Cell findings
Issues
Whether the Scrutiny Committee was justified in discarding the validity certificates of the petitioner's blood relatives
Whether the petitioner is entitled to a validity certificate based on the certificates issued to his close blood relatives
Submissions/Arguments
The petitioner argued that validity certificates issued to his father and real brother should suffice for his claim under legal precedents
The respondent-State argued that the earlier certificates were issued without proper Vigilance Cell enquiry and that documents showed interpolations, justifying their discard
Ratio Decidendi
Validity certificates issued to close blood relatives are binding for caste claims unless proven to be obtained by fraud -- The Scrutiny Committee must verify the genuineness and procedural compliance of such certificates but cannot discard them without evidence of fraud -- The principles from Maharashtra Adiwasi Thakur Jamat Swarakshan Samiti and Apoorva d/o Vinay Nichale apply, emphasizing efficiency and consistency in caste claim verifications
Judgment Excerpts
Held that there should be no difficulty in issuing a certificate of validity in favour of the petitioner being a close blood relative of Devidas and Navneet who have been granted such certificates
Held that the certificates of validity issued to Devidas and Navneet are genuine documents and that they are close blood relatives of the petitioner
Held that the Scrutiny Committee must verify whether the validity certificate was granted to the applicant’s blood relative after due enquiry and in accordance with prescribed procedure
Procedural History
The petitioner filed a writ petition after the Scrutiny Committee invalidated his caste claim on 19/06/2023 -- The High Court heard arguments from both sides and delivered an oral judgment on 04/02/2026, quashing the Committee's order and directing issuance of a validity certificate
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