IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT BOMBAY BENCH AT AURANGABAD WRIT PETITION NO. 3711 OF 2011 Office Notes, Office Memoranda of Coram appearances, Court's Orders Court's or Judge's orders or directions and Registrar's orders. 1 Syed Shahed @ Shahed Shah s/o. Syed Kutub, Age 26 years, Occ. Nil, R/o. Sirad Shahapur, Taluka Aundha, District Hingoli. .. PETITIONER VERSUS 1] The State of Maharashtra through its Secretary, Social Welfare Department, Mantralaya, Mumbai 400 032. 2] The State of Maharashtra through its Secretary, Home Department, Mantralaya, Mumbai 400 032. 3] The Divisional Caste Certificates Scrutiny Committee, Latur Division, Latur. 4] The Superintendent of Police, Hingoli, District Hingoli. .. RESPONDENTS. Mr. S.S. Kazi, Advocate for petitioner. Mr. V.H. Dighe,Assistant Govt. Pleader for respondent No.1. CORAM :- B.R. GAVAI & R.M. BORDE, JJ. DATE :- 5TH SEPTEMBER, 2011. IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT BOMBAY BENCH AT AURANGABAD WRIT PETITION NO. 3711 OF 2011 Office Notes, Office Memoranda of Coram appearances, Court's Orders Court's or Judge's orders or directions and Registrar's orders. 2 ORAL JUDGMENT [ PER B.R. GAVAI, J.] :- 1] Rule. Rule made returnable forthwith. Heard finally by consent of parties. 2] By way of present petition, the petitioner challenges the order dated 23/3/2011, passed by the respondent No.3 – Scrutiny Committee, thereby invalidating the claim of the petitioner, as belonging to Fakir OBC category. 3] The petitioner had applied for the post of Police Constable with the respondent No.4. The petitioner was also selected from the category of OBC. However, the said selection was subject to the claim of the petitioner of belonging to OBC category being validated. As such, the claim of the petitioner came to be forwarded to the scrutiny committee for validation. Upon scrutiny, respondent No.3 – Committee has invalidated the claim of the petitioner. As such, the petitioner has approached this court. 4] After filing the petition, the selection of the petitioner was cancelled and as such, the petitioner has amended the petition. We have perused the order passed by the respondent No.3 - committee. The committee has invalidated the claim of the petitioner on the ground that it was noticed by the committee IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT BOMBAY BENCH AT AURANGABAD WRIT PETITION NO. 3711 OF 2011 Office Notes, Office Memoranda of Coram appearances, Court's Orders Court's or Judge's orders or directions and Registrar's orders. 3 that in the school record of the cousins of the petitioner, the word “Fakir” has been inserted subsequently. 5] Perusal of the Vigilance Report would reveal that the vigilance cell has personally visited the original village of the petitioner. In the said report, it has been stated that in the area where the petitioner's family resides, in village Sirad Shahpur, the Muslim persons residing there are belonging to Fakir community. It has been further found that the grandfather of the petitioner namely, Hussain shah, used to travel from village to village on a horse and pray for alms. It has been further found that in the house of the petitioner, the old green clothes, green feta, pots used for alms, chain of stones used by his grandfather and other articles used by him, praying for alms were found in his house. It has been further found that in the said village – Sirad Shahpur, around 1500 to 2000 persons belonging to Muslim religion are residing. It has been further found that Muslims belong to different communities are residing in various areas known as Pathan Mohalla, Kotwal Galli, etc. It has been further found that in the area where petitioners forefathers were residing, only persons belonging to Fakir community/tribe are residing. The vigilance cell has also found that petitioner's father's father-in-law was named as Gulab Shahpir Babashah. It has been further found that said Gulab Shah was also belonging to Fakir community. The vigilance cell has also made enquiries with other IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT BOMBAY BENCH AT AURANGABAD WRIT PETITION NO. 3711 OF 2011 Office Notes, Office Memoranda of Coram appearances, Court's Orders Court's or Judge's orders or directions and Registrar's orders. 4 relatives of the petitioner and found that all of them were belonging to Fakir community. 6] No doubt, it is not necessary that the report of the Vigilance Cell has to be accepted as it is. However, due weightage has to be given to it. For a change, in the present case, we find that the vigilance cell has made a thorough enquiry. The report of the vigilance cell alongwith other documents submitted by the petitioner, including the certificates of the Police Patil, Talathi, Sarpanch, Village Development Officer, as well as documents of the relatives, in our view, would fortify the claim of the petitioner that he belongs to Fakir community. 7] The respondent No.3, in its order, has not even whispered about the report of the vigilance cell. One more factor that needs to be noted that even in the service of the petitioner's father, his caste is recorded as Muslim Fakir. The said document is prior to 2001, i.e. the date on which the Muslim Fakir community was included in OBC category. 8] Having regard to the totality of the facts and circumstances, we find that the petitioner has made out a case to establish that he belongs to Fakir OBC. In the result, we allow the petition and pass the following order :- IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT BOMBAY BENCH AT AURANGABAD WRIT PETITION NO. 3711 OF 2011 Office Notes, Office Memoranda of Coram appearances, Court's Orders Court's or Judge's orders or directions and Registrar's orders. 5 O R D E R. “The writ petition is allowed. The impugned order passed by respondent No.3 dated 23/3/2011, is quashed and set aside. It is held and declared that the petitioner belongs to Muslim Fakir OBC category. Consequently, respondent No.4 is directed to issue an appointment order to the petitioner from the category of OBC. The same shall be done within 4 weeks from today.” Rule made absolute in above terms, with no orders as to costs. [R.M. BORDE,J.] [B.R. GAVAI, J.] grt/-