1 IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT BOMBAY IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT BOMBAY IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT BOMBAY CIVIL APPELLATE JURISDICTION CIVIL APPELLATE JURISDICTION CIVIL APPELLATE JURISDICTION WRIT PETITION NO.8530 OF 2007 WRIT PETITION NO.8530 OF 2007 WRIT PETITION NO.8530 OF 2007 Sharad Dada Shinde. .. Petitioner. vs. State of Maharashtra & Ors. .. Respondents. Mr. A.M. Joshi for Petitioner. Mr. C.R. Sonawane, AGP., for Respondents. CORAM: J.N. PATEL, & CORAM: J.N. PATEL, & CORAM: J.N. PATEL, & SMT. NISHITA MHATRE, J. SMT. NISHITA MHATRE, J. SMT. NISHITA MHATRE, J. DATE: 29th FEBRUARY, 2008. DATE: 29th FEBRUARY, 2008. DATE: 29th FEBRUARY, 2008. P.C. . Heard. 2. The petitioner has challenged the decision of the Caste Scrutiny Committee invalidating the caste certificate issued to the petitioner by its order 21.4.2007. The petitioner requires this validity certificate to enable him to seek employment in the police force and claim that against the seat meant for scheduled tribe. The petitioner claims that he is Koli Mahadeo which belongs to scheduled tribe for which he 2 has obtained caste certificate issued by the Deputy Collector, Pune. The said caste certificate was sent for verification to the Caste Scrutiny Committee which after examining the same and obtaining the Vigilance Cell report found that the caste certificate cannot be held to be valid on two counts. Firstly, that his ancestors on the paternal side are all found to be koli as per the Vigilance Cell report which has been exhaustively reproduced in the impugned order. Secondly, the petitioner was also not able to satisfy the Scrutiny Committee when affinity test was applied to the case of the petitioner and, therefore, they came to the conclusion that the caste certificate issued to the petitioner that he belongs to Mahadeo Koli caste which is scheduled tribe is invalidated. 3. The learned counsel for the petitioner has raised several grounds impugning the order of the Caste Scrutiny Committee such as that the relatives of the petitioner have been issued caste certificates as Mahadeo Koli and the Caste Scrutiny Committee has in identical cases issued validity certificates in favour of persons whose ancestors castes were recorded as Koli and subsequently they obtained caste certificates as Mahadeo Kolis. 4. We find no merit in the contention of the petitioner. The petitioner cannot claim parity to the illegality, if any, by the Caste Scrutiny Committee in 3 validating the certificates of other candidates. That is a different issue and besides the point. The petitioner has to establish his caste claim on the basis of evidence which goes to establish that he does belong to caste Mahadeo Koli which is recognised as scheduled tribe, which he has miserably failed. Just because the caste certificate of Mahadeo Koli is issued to the relatives of the petitioner, it does not mean that he also belongs to caste Mahadeo Koli. The Caste Scrutiny Committee has specifically examined this aspect and found that such caste certificates have been obtained by suppressing material facts from the competent authorities and that the petitioner intentionally suppressed the caste of his ancestors on the paternal side from the scrutiny committee, which could be obtained by the officials of the Vigilance Cell, in order to mislead the Caste Scrutiny Committee. 5. Another contention raised by Mr. Joshi is that now the State has lifted the area restriction and, therefore, a person who belongs to Mahadeo Koli can be from any region and not necessarily that he should have his origin or roots in a particular region. This also does not help the petitioner in any manner in establishing that he belongs to the caste Mahadeo Koli. 6. We, therefore, dismiss the petition with costs which we quantify at Rs. 5000/-. Costs to be paid within a period of four weeks. On failure of the 4 petitioner to pay costs as directed by this Court the same be recovered from him by Collector by following the procedure laid down in the Maharashtra Land Revenue Code and the same be credited in the account of the State. (J.N. Patel, J.) (J.N. Patel, J.) (J.N. Patel, J.) (Smt. Nishita Mhatre, J.) (Smt. Nishita Mhatre, J.) (Smt. Nishita Mhatre, J.)