1 IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE OF BOMBAY BENCH AT AURANGABAD WRIT PETITION NO. 4661 OF 2009 Kerba S/o Dattatraya Parad .... PETITIONER V E R S U S The State of Maharashtra & Others .... RESPONDENTS Mr. S.S.Thombre, Counsel for Petitioner. Mr. N.N.Jadhav, A.G.P. for Respondent No. 1 – State. Mr. B.L.Sagar (Killarikar), Counsel for Respondent No. 2. Mr. S.K.Chavan, Counsel for Respondent No. 7. [ CORAM : P.V.HARDAS & R.K.DESHPANDE, JJ. ] DATE : 18 th JULY, 2009 PER COURT : 1. This petition under Article 226 of the Constitution of India 2 takes exception to an Order passed by the Respondent – Scrutiny Committee invalidating the caste claim of the petitioner as belonging to Nawadi – Nomadic Tribe. It appears that the petitioner, who had contested the election of Panchayat Samiti, Majalgaon from Anandgaon (reserved constituency) had submitted a certificate issued by the competent authorities in respect of his tribe claim as belonging to Nawadi i.e. Nomadic Tribe. The claim of the petitioner came to be referred to the Scrutiny Committee for verification. In the earlier round of litigation, the respondent had invalidated the caste of the petitioner and, therefore, the petitioner had challenged the said decision of the respondent Scrutiny Committee by filing Writ Petition No. 3376 of 2007 in this Court. The Division Bench of this Court, to which one of us ( P.V. Hardas, J. ) was as member, allowed the petition in the light of the various contentions which were raised therein and quashed and set aside the impugned Order and directed the Scrutiny Committee to decide the claim of the petitioner afresh after affording opportunity of hearing to the petitioner. This Court directed the Scrutiny Committee to decide the proceedings within four weeks of 16/3/2009. Pursuant thereto, the respondent scrutiny committee has invalidated the tribe claim of the petitioner by its Order dated 26/6/2009 which is the subject matter of challenge in the present petition. 3 2. The scrutiny Committee invalidated the tribe claim of the petitioner on the ground that the petitioner had not been able to adduce evidence in respect of certificates issued to his other blood relatives i.e. father, etc. in respect of his claim as belonging to Nawadi caste. The second ground on which the claim of the petitioner came to be invalidated was that in the school records pertaining to the petitioner, his father and his three sisters, the entry in respect of caste was ‘ Maratha ’ which was contrary to the claim set up by the petitioner. The Scrutiny Committee also observed that in the revenue records pertaining to the grand father of the petitioner, the caste was recorded was Maratha. The Scrutiny Committee, therefore, on account of paucity of evidence and contra evidence, negatived the claim of the petitioner as belonging to Nawadi caste. 3. Mr. S.S. Thombre, learned counsel for the petitioner has urged before us that the order of the respondent – Scrutiny Committee deserves to be quashed and set aside on the ground : [ i ] That the entries of ‘ Maratha ’ in respect of school record of the petitioner appears to be extremely doubtful as the column in the school records was in respect of religion and not caste, though the word ‘ religion’ in some pages appear to have been scored and the word ‘ caste ’ had been 4 written. 4. It is, however, urged before us that the complaint came to be lodged to the Education Department and accordingly the communication came to be addressed to the petitioner that in the school record there was no column of caste but there was a column in respect of religion and on some pages the column relating to religion have been scored out and caste had been written. It is also urged by the learned counsel for the petitioner that his rivals in the profession, which he professes, have tampered the record and have created contra entries in order to adversely affect the career of the petitioner. It is also urged before us that the petitioner in his explanation submitted to the Scrutiny Committee requested that the document be referred to the hand writing Expert in respect of alleged tampering. Lastly it was urged before us that the report of the vigilance cell supports petitioner as the report recites that the petitioner had been able to state the exact rites and rituals performed by persons to be belonging to Nawadi caste. Mr. Sagar (Killarikar), learned counsel for the Scrutiny Committee has urged before us for dismissal of the petition as the petitioner had not been able to lead satisfactory evidence and on account of paucity of evidence and the contra entries, the claim of the petitioner has been rightfully rejected by the Scrutiny Committee. 5 5. With the assistance of the learned counsel for the parties, we have perused the findings recorded by the Scrutiny Committee. The evidence in respect of contra entries i.e. the recording of case ‘ Maratha ’ as against the claim set up by the petitioner is overwhelming. If the petitioner wanted to contend before the Scrutiny Committee that the said entries were fabricated or tampered, the burden of so proving squarely rested on the shoulder of the petitioner. Nothing can be gathered from the record that there has been any tampering of the school record. Merely scoring the word ‘ religion ’ from the register and substituting it by the word ‘ caste ’ would not indicate that the entry of ‘ Maratha ’ caste has been subsequently written or is a tampered or is a fabricated entry. No doubt, the report of the vigilance cell states that the petitioner had been able to state the rites and rituals performed by the persons belonging to Nawadi caste but in the light of overwhelming contra evidence in respect of recording of the caste as Maratha, the vigilance report would pale into insignificance. It was then urged before us by the learned counsel for the petitioner that the petitioner is in possession of a document evidencing sale of a bullock-cart alleged to have been executed in the year 1959 by the grand father of the petitioner. According to Mr. Thombre, learned counsel for the petitioner, since the petitioner was not in possession of the aforesaid document, he could not produce the said document during the enquiry before the 6 vigilance cell. It is also urged before us that the said document was made available by one Sitaram, who had allegedly sold the bullock-cart to the grand father of the petitioner. Even in this petition before us, no satisfactory explanation has been offered in respect of as to why this document was not produced before the Scrutiny Committee. The genuineness of the aforesaid document, therefore, is under a Cloud. Apart from it, even if the said document is considered, the said document can not have any greater presumptive value than the school record of the petitioner and his father, wherein caste is recorded as ‘ Maratha ’. 6. After giving anxious consideration to the evidence on record, according to us, the petitioner has miserably failed to establish that he belongs to Nawadi caste, which is Nomadic Tribe caste. We, therefore, find no merit in the petition and the same is summarily dismissed with no order as to costs. [ R.K.DESHPANDE ] [ P.V. HARDAS ] JUDGE JUDGE knp/WP4661.09 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16