1 wp5432.10 IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT BOMBAY, BENCH AT AURANGABAD WRIT PETITION NO. 5432 OF 2010 Maheshkumar Maroti Tumwar Petitioner ------ The Scheduled Tribe Certificate Scrutiny Committee, Aurangabad and another. Respondents ------ Shri S.S. Phatale, Adv. holding for Shri M.S.Deshmukh Adv. for the Petitioner. Shri R.P. Phatke, Advocate, for Respondent No.1. Shri S.V. Kurundkar, Addl. .G.P. for Respondents No.2. -------- Coram: Smt. Nishita Mhatre & M.T. Joshi, JJ. Date : 15th June, 2011. P. C. 01. Rule. By consent, rule made returnable forthwith and the petition is taken up for final hearing. 02. The petitioner's grievance in the present petition is that he has not been issued a caste certificate by the Sub Divisional Officer, Degloor. The Petitioner claims that he belongs to the Mannerwarlu Scheduled Tribe. Several documents were produced by the petitioner, including his School Leaving certificate and that of his brother and sister, all of which indicated that they belong to the Mannerwarlu Tribe. Apart from these certificates, the petitioner had also produced several other documents to establish his claim that he belongs to the Mannerwarlu Tribe. 2 wp5432.10 03. The Sub Divisional Officer, while rejecting the claim of the petitioner by order dated 3.2.2009, has relied upon the judgment of this Court in the case of Dharmendra Devram Patil vs. Scheduled Tribe Caste Certificate Scrutiny Committee, reported in 2004 All M.R. 512, and held that merely because one of the members of the family has been issued a validity certificate, the others need not be issued such a certificate. 04. The Scrutiny Committee, which is the appellate authority has, by its order dated 30.3.2009, confirmed the order passed by the Sub Divisional Officer. It is trite that when the Sub Divisional Officer is called upon to issue a caste certificate, the enquiry that he is expected to make is only whether the person seeking such a certificate, has prima facie been able to establish that he belongs to a particular tribe or caste. It is not the province of the Sub Divisional Officer to decide whether the claim of the petitioner is valid, as that is within the jurisdiction of the Scrutiny Committee, when the certificate issued by the Sub Divisional Officer, is submitted before it for validation. 05. We have perused the documents produced before the Sub Divisional officer which, prima facie, indicate that the petitioner belongs to the Mannerwarlu Scheduled Tribe. In these circumstances, the Sub Divisional Officer ought to have issued the certificate requested by the petitioner. The appellate authority has, unfortunately, without any application of mind, dismissed the appeal preferred by the petitioner. 3 wp5432.10 06. Hence, the petition is allowed. The impugned orders are set aside. The Sub Divisional Officer shall issue a certificate to the petitioner, indicating that he belongs to the Mannerwarlu Scheduled Tribe within four weeks from today. However, it is made clear that the issuance of such a certificate would not mean that the tribe claim of the petitioner has been validated. Petition disposed of. Rule made absolute, accordingly. (M. T. JOSHI, J.) (SMT. NISHITA MHATRE, J.) pnd/wp5432.10