1 IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT BOMBAY BENCH AT AURANGABAD. WRIT PETITION NO.4052 OF 2009 Kum. Rajshree D/o Mallikarjun Muddamwar, Age-Minor, Occu.Education, R/o Degloor, Tq. Degloor, Dist. Nanded, Through Father / Natural Guardian, Shri Mallikarjun s/o Gangaram Muddamwar, Age : 41 years, Occu. Service, R/o as above ..PETITIONER VERSUS 1. The State of Maharashtra, Through Secretary to Tribal Development Department, Mantralaya, Mumbai 2. The Scheduled Tribe Caste Certificate Verification Committee, Aurangabad, Through its Dy. Director (R), Aurangabad 3. The Sub-Divisional Officer, Degloor, District Nanded ..RESPONDENTS Mr S.M. Vibhute, Advocate for the petitioner; Mr K.J. Ghute Patil, AGP for respondents no.1 & 3; Mr M.S. Deshmukh, Advocate for respondent no.2. 2 CORAM: P.V. HARDAS AND R.K.DESHPANDE, JJ. DATE : 1ST JULY, 2009 ORAL JUDGMENT: [PER P.V. HARDAS, J.] At the outset, Shri S.M. Vibhute, learned Counsel for the petitioner has tendered before us a copy of the caste certificate issued to the father of the petitioner and which had been submitted before the Sub-Divisional Officer. We take the aforesaid certificate on record and mark it “X” for the purposes of identification. 2. Rule. Rule made returnable forthwith. With the consent of learned Counsel for the parties this petition is heard finally at the stage of admission. 3. Since the petitioner was desirous of obtaining caste certificate as belonging to “Mannervarlu” - Scheduled Tribe, the petitioner submitted her application to the Sub Divisional Officer. Along with the application the petitioner had appended copies of the caste certificate issued to the father of the petitioner and the validity certificate granted to the uncle of the petitioner. The Sub-Divisional Officer rejected the aforesaid application of the petitioner on the ground that in the census document the caste of the grandfather of the petitioner was recorded as Munnarwad. On an appeal being submitted by the petitioner to the Scrutiny Committee, the Scrutiny Committee also concurred with the findings of the Sub- 3 Divisional Officer and dismissed the appeal. 4. Since a caste certificate has been issued to the father of the petitioner, according to us the petitioner has been successful in prima facie establishing that the petitioner belongs to “Mannervarlu” Scheduled Tribe. In respect of whether the caste of the grandfather of the petitioner is recorded contrary to the claim set up by the petitioner would be a matter for the Scrutiny Committee to examine and determine when the caste certificate of the petitioner is referred to the Scrutiny Committee for verification. However, at this prima facie stage, the certificate of the father of the petitioner is sufficient to warrant the issuance of the caste certificate to the petitioner. 5. In the light of this, petition is allowed and the impugned orders are hereby quashed and set aside and the Sub-Divisional Officer, Degloor is directed to forthwith issue caste certificate to the petitioner as belonging to “Mannervarlu” - Scheduled Tribe. 6. Rule is thus made absolute on the above terms with no order as to costs. [ R.K. DESHPANDE, J ] [ P.V. HARDAS, J ] amj/wp4052.09 4