1 IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT BOMBAY BENCH AT AURANGABAD. WRIT PETITION NO.3570 OF 2009 Sudhir s/o Raju Pankar, Age : 23 years, Occu. Education, R/o Biloli, Tq. Biloli, District Nanded, Through Power of Attorney Holder, Raju s/o Gangadharrao Pankar, Age : 49 years, Occu. Service, R/o Biloli, Tq. Biloli, Dist. Nanded ..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 S.K. Kadam, AGP for respondents no.1 & 3; Mr M.S. Deshmukh, Advocate for respondent no.2. CORAM: P.V. HARDAS AND R.K.DESHPANDE, JJ. 2 DATE : 16th JUNE, 2009. ORAL JUDGMENT: [PER P.V. HARDAS, J.] Rule. Rule made returnable forthwith. With the consent of learned Counsel for the parties, this petition is heard finally at the stage of admission. 2. By this petition under Article 226 of the Constitution of India the petitioner impugns the orders passed by the Sub-Divisional Officer, Degloor declining to issue certificate to the petitioner as belonging to “Mannervarlu” - Scheduled Tribe and the order of the respondent no.2 Scrutiny Committee affirming the order of the Sub-Divisional Officer. In the light of the limited nature of challenge raised in this petition, we deem it appropriate to decide this petition finally at the stage of admission. 3. We have heard Shri S.M. Vibhute, learned Counsel for the petitioner; learned A.G.P. Shri S.K. Kadam on behalf of respondents no.1 & 3 and learned Counsel Shri M.S. Deshmukh on behalf of respondent no.2. 4. The petitioner had applied to the Sub-Divisional Officer, Degloor for issuance of a caste certificate 3 to him. Along with the documents which the petitioner had appended to his application, the document of some importance is the document pertaining to the caste certificate issued to the cousin of the petitioner. The aforesaid document is to be found enlisted in the order of the Sub-Divisional Officer at sr.no.7. The Sub-Divisional Officer by relying upon the observations made by the Division Bench of this Court pertaining to the appreciation of documents by the respondent – Scrutiny Committee and the burden of proof placed upon the applicant who seeks validation of his caste claim, rejected the application of the petitioner. 5. According to us at this prima facie stage of inquiry, the purpose of which is to determine if there is adequate material in possession of the applicant who applies for issuance of a caste certificate as belonging to a particular caste. 6. According to us, perusal of the impugned orders clearly show that the caste certificate has been granted to the first cousin of the petitioner. According to us this was sufficient material available 4 with the petitioner to prima facie demonstrate that the petitioner belongs to “Mannervarlu” - Scheduled Tribe. In the light of that, therefore, the impugned order is unsustainable in law and deserves to be quashed and set aside. Similarly, the order passed by the respondent – Scrutiny Committee in appeal confirming the order of the Sub-Divisional Officer also deserves to be quashed and set aside. 7. Accordingly, this writ petition is allowed and the impugned orders are hereby quashed and set aside. Respondent no.3 - Sub-Divisional Officer, Degloor is directed to forthwith issue caste certificate to the petitioner as belonging to “Mannervarlu” - Scheduled Tribe. Rule is made absolute on the above terms with no order as to costs. [ R.K. DESHPANDE, J ] [ P.V. HARDAS, J ] //Authenticated copy// (A.M. Joshi), Pvt. Secretary to Hon’ble Judge 5