1 wp4151.10 IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE OF BOMBAY, BENCH AT AURANGABAD WRIT PETITION NO. 4151 OF 2010 Akash S/o Govindrao Chinmalwar, Age : Minor, Occ : Education, R/o Degloor, Tq. Degloor, Dist. Nanded, Through father/natural guardian, Shri. Govindrao S/o Jalba Chinmalwar, Age : 45 years, Occ : Agri., R/o As above. ..PETITIONER -VERSUS- The State of Maharashtra and others. ..RESPONDENTS ..... Shri S.M. Vibhute, Advocate for petitioner. Shri K.G. Patil, A.G.P. for Respondent/State. Shri R.P. Phatake, Advocate for respondent no.2. ..... (CORAM : SMT. NISHITA MHATRE AND M.T. JOSHI, JJ. DATED : 13th July, 2011. ORAL ORDER :- 1. The petitioner's grievance in the present Petition is that the Sub- Divisional Officer, Degloor has not issued him a tribe certificate, pursuant to the application made by him on 4th September, 2009. The application has been dismissed by the Sub-Divisional Officer. That order has been confirmed by the Scrutiny Committee in an appeal, and hence, the present Petition. 2. We have considered, with the assistance of the learned 2 wp4151.10 Advocates for the parties, the impugned orders and in our opinion, these orders are erroneous. The Sub-Divisional Officer has committed a serious error by refusing the certificate, on the ground that the petitioner had not produced any documents relating to his tribe claim, prior to 1950 and because the census of 1951 shows that the caste recorded with respect to the petitioner's relative was Koli. 3. The petitioner has produced before the Sub-Divisional Officer various documents including the school records of himself and his father, the validity certificate issued to his paternal cousin and various other documents, which indicated that his caste was recorded as "Mahadeo Koli". The Sub-Divisional Officer, while issuing the certificate of caste tribe is expected to only consider, prima facie, whether there are documents on record, indicating the applicant's caste. He is not expected to consider the validity of the claim made by the petitioner. It is a prima facie, enquiry which he is expected to conduct, based on the documents on record. In the present case, there was sufficient material to issue such a certificate as the documents produced show that the petitioner's tribe was Mahadeo Koli. 4. The Scrutiny Committee while exercising powers under the Maharashtra Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, De-Notified Tribes, (Vimukta Jatis), Nomadic Tribes, Other Backward Classes and Special Backward Category (Regulation of Issuance and Verification of) Caste Certificate Act, 2000 (hereinafter referred to 3 wp4151.10 as "the said Act") has unfortunately merely concurred with the order passed by the Sub-Divisional Officer rather than considering whether it is proper on merits. The enquiry conducted by the Sub-Divisional Officer is not contemplated under the provisions of Section 4 of the said Act and the Rules framed thereunder. Hence, the impugned orders are apparently illegal. 5. Accordingly, we set aside the impugned orders. The petitioner shall be issued a certificate to the effect that he belongs to the Mahadeo Koli, Scheduled Tribe. However, this does not mean that we have in any manner validated his tribe claim. The respondent no.3 shall issue the certificate within four weeks from today. 6. The Petition is disposed of accordingly. (M.T. JOSHI, J.) (SMT. NISHITA MHATRE, J.) ga s/wp4151.10