1 IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT BOMBAY BENCH AT AURANGABAD. WRIT PETITION NO.3911 OF 2009 Anil s/o Kishanrao Naikwad, Age 19 years, Occu.Education, R/o At Post Degloor, Tq.Degloor, District 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 Deputy Director (R), Aurangabad 3. The Sub Divisional Officer, Degloor, Dist.Nanded .. Respondents Shri S.M.Vibhute, Advocate for petitioner Shri K.J.Ghute Patil, AGP for respondent No.1 & 3 Slhri M.S.Deshmukh, Advocate for respondent No.2 CORAM : P.V.HARDAS AND R.K.DESHPANDE, JJ DATE : 26th JUNE, 2009 2 ORAL JUDGMENT [ PER P.V.HARDAS , J ] 1. Rule. Rule returnable forthwith. With the consent of learned Counsel for the parties, this petition is heard finally at the stage of admission. 2. The petitioner by this petition under Article 226 of the Constitution of India impugns the order of the Sub-Divisional Officer, Degloor dated 31.1.2009 declining to issue caste certificate to the petitioner and the order of Scrutiny Committee dated 30.3.2009 in appeal dismissing the appeal and confirming the order of the Sub-Divisional Officer. 3. The petitioner who was desirous of obtaining a caste certificate, submitted an application before the Sub-Divisional Officer, Degloor. The petitioner heavily relied upon the validity certificate granted to his two real brothers. The aforesaid documents are at item No.6 and 7 in the order of the Sub- Divisional Officer. The Sub-Divisional Officer did not choose to place any reliance upon the said documents on the ground that in the admission extract pertaining to the father of the petitioner, the word “Mahadev” appeared to have been added in different ink subsequently. 3 4. According to us, when the validity certificates have been granted to two real brothers of the petitioner, the aforesaid entry in respect of caste of the father of the petitioner must have been taken into consideration by the Committee while granting validity certificates to the two real brothers of the petitioner and, therefore, the aforesaid entry in respect of the father of the petitioner would pale into insignificance at this stage. On the strength of validity certificates granted to two real brothers of the petitioner, the petitioner is entitled to be issued the caste certificate. 5. Accordingly, this writ petition is allowed. The impugned orders are hereby quashed and set aside. The respondent No.3 – Sub-Divisional Officer, Degloor is hereby directed to forthwith issue the caste certificate to the petitioner as belonging to Koli Mahadev – Scheduled Tribe. 6. Rule is thus made absolute on the terms indicated above with no order as to costs. ( R.K.DESHPANDE ) ( P.V.HARDAS ) JUDGE JUDGE vvr/3911.09wp 4