{1} wp528709.odt IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE OF BOMBAY BENCH AT AURANGABAD WRIT PETITION NO.5287 OF 2009 Gangadhar Hanmanlu Fulanwar, age: 21 years, Occ: Education, R/o at Post Bhaktapur, Tq. Degloor, District Nanded. Petitioner Versus 1 The State of Maharashtra, through Secretary, Tribal Development Department, Mantralaya, Mumbai. 2 The Scheduled Tribe Certificate Verification Committee, Aurangabad, through its Member Secretary. 3 The Sub-Divisional Officer, Degloor, Tq. Degloor, District Nanded. Respondents Mr.P.B.Gapat, advocate for the petitioner Mr.K.B.Chaudhari, A.G.P. for respondents no.1 & 3. Mr.R.P.Phatke, advocate for Respondent No.2. CORAM : D.B.BHOSALE AND R.M.BORDE, JJ. DATE :08 th February, 2011 ORAL JUDGMENT (Per R.M.Borde, J.): {2} wp528709.odt 1 Rule. Rule made returnable forthwith and heard finally by consent of learned Counsel for respective parties. 2 The petitioner is challenging the order passed by Sub Divisional Officer rejecting the application tendered by him for issuance of caste certificate and the order passed by the Respondent No.2 Committee confirming the order passed by the Sub Divisional Officer. 3 The petitioner, in order to substantiate his claim, has placed on record copies of school admission register wherein the entry in respect of his caste is recorded as `Mannerwarlu’. Reliance is also placed on Junior College Leaving Certificate issued in favour of the petitioner by Degloor College, Degloor and the said certificate also records caste of the petitioner as `Mannerwarlu’. The village officials i.e. Sarpanch, Talathi and Circle Inspector have issued a certificate in favour of the petitioner certifying that he belongs to Mannerwarlu – a scheduled tribe. The petitioner has also placed on record the validity certificate issued in favour of Mogalaji Iranna Shirshetwar – his maternal cousin. In an affidavit sworn by said Mogalaji, it is stated that the petitioner is related to the affiant and both belong to `Mannerwarlu’ - a scheduled tribe. Apart from these documents, the petitioner has also placed on record the report tendered by the Naib Tahsildar, who has conducted local inquiry and reported that prima facie, the {3} wp528709.odt petitioner appears to be belonging to `Mannerwarlu’ - a scheduled tribe. 4 It is recorded in several judgments delivered by this Court, that the consideration for issuance of caste certificate differ from the parameters which are required to be applied while issuing the validity certificate by the Scrutiny Committee. At the stage of issuance of caste certificate, only prima facie material is required to be scrutinised, as the caste certificate is amenable to further scrutiny at the stage of issuance of validity certificate. 5 Considering these aspects of the matter, the order passed by the Sub Divisional Officer, which has been confirmed by the appellate authority i.e. Respondent No.2 – Committee, needs to be quashed and set aside and Respondent No.3 needs to be directed to issue caste certificate in prescribed format in favour of the petitioner within stipulated period. 6 In this view of the matter, the Writ Petition deserves to be allowed and the same is accordingly allowed. (i) The impugned order dated 29.10.2008, passed by the Sub Divisional Officer, Degloor, thereby refusing to issue caste certificate in favour of the petitioner, as well as the order dated 30.03.2009, passed by the Scrutiny Committee, {4} wp528709.odt thereby rejecting the appeal, are quashed and set aside. (ii) The respondent no.3 is directed to issue caste certificate in the prescribed format, in favour of the petitioner, within a period of three weeks from today. It is needless to mention that the caste certificate would be subject to its validation by the Committee. (iii) However, it is made clear that the observations made herein above are only for the purposes of considering the claim of the petitioner for grant of caste (tribe) certificate and that the Committee shall not be influenced by the same at the stage of considering the claim of the petitioner for grant of caste (tribe) validity certificate. It would be open for the Scrutiny Committee to consider the matter on its own merits. 7 Rule is made absolute accordingly. In the facts and circumstances of the case, there shall be no order as to costs. R.M.BORDE D.B.BHOSALE JUDGE JUDGE adb/wp528709