(1) IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT BOMBAY, AURANGABAD BENCH, AT AURANGABAD. WRIT PETITION NO. 11115 OF 2010 Priti d/o. Subhash Kamble, Age : Minor, Occupation : Education, Through natural guardian / mother, Anjali w/o. Subhash Kamble, Age : 36 years, Occupation : Household, R/o. Jaiba Pimpri, Taluka & District : Beed. .. Petitioner. versus 1. The Union of India, Through its Secretary, Ministry of Human Resource Development Department, Government of India. 2. The Principal, Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya, Gadhi, Taluka : Georai, District : Beed. 3. The Sub-Divisional Officer, Beed, Taluka & District : Beed. (2) 4. The Scheduled Tribe Certificate Scrutiny Committee, Aurangabad Division, Aurangabad, Through its Deputy Director (R), Aurangabad. ....................... Mr. Pratap V. Jadhavar, Advocate, for the petitioner. Mr. R.P. Phatke, Standing Counsel, for respondent nos.1 and 2. Mr. N.B. Patil, Assistant Government Pleader, for respondent no.3. Mr. R.P. Phatke, Advocate, for respondent no.4. ........................ CORAM : B.R. GAVAI & R.M. BORDE, JJ. DATE : 9TH DECEMBER 2010 ORAL JUDGMENT (Per B.R. Gavai, J.) : 1. Rule. Rule made returnable forthwith. Heard by consent. 2. The petition arises out of peculiar facts. The (3) petitioner has been selected for admission to Jawahar Novodaya Vidyalaya, Gadhi (Taluka : Georai, District : Beed), against a seat reserved for a candidate belonging to Scheduled Tribe. However, since the petitioner was not possessing the requisite caste certificate, she was not allowed to join the school and, as such, the petitioner was required to approach this Court. This Court, vide order dated 11th August 2010, in Writ Petition No. 7130/2010, allowed the petition and directed the said school to give provisional admission to the petitioner in 6th standard, subject to the caste certificate to be issued by the Sub-Divisional Officer. This Court has also directed the Sub-Divisional Officer to decide the application within the prescribed period. 3. In pursuance to the orders passed by this Court, the Sub-Divisional Officer has rejected the application filed by the present petitioner. Being aggrieved thereby, the petitioner has filed an appeal before the respondent no.4 / Committee. However, on rejection of the application of the petitioner, the respondent no.2 / School is not permitting the petitioner to continue the studies. In that background, the petitioner has approached this Court. 4. We have perused the record. The real sister of the petitioner, namely, Manisha, has already been granted caste (4) (tribe) validity certificate of belonging to "Mahadeo Koli", Scheduled Tribe. 5. This Court, in number of cases, has held that the inquiry, that is contemplated at the stage of grant of caste (tribe) certificate, is not a detail inquiry, as is contemplated at the stage of considering a candidate for issuing caste (tribe) validity certificate. The inquiry, that is required to be conducted at the stage of grant of caste (tribe) certificate, requires a candidate to prima facie establish that he belongs to particular caste (tribe) on the basis of evidence submitted in support of the claim. 6. In normal circumstances, since the petitioner has already filed an appeal, we would not have considered the claim of the petitioner for grant of caste certificate. However, since the real sister of the petitioner herself has been granted validity certificate, we find that as an exceptional case, a direction needs to be issued to the respondent no.3, to issue caste certificate to the petitioner, certifying that the petitioner belongs to "Mahadeo Koli", Scheduled Tribe. 7. In the result, the petition is allowed. (i) The respondent no.3 / Sub-Divisional Officer is directed to (5) issue caste (tribe) certificate to the petitioner, certifying that she belongs to "Mahadeo Koli", Scheduled Tribe. The same shall be done within a period of two weeks from today. (ii) The respondent no.2 / School is directed to continue the petitioner in the school and allow her to prosecute her studies. (iii) However, it is made clear that the observations made herein above are only for the purposes of considering the claim of the petitioner for grant of caste (tribe) certificate and that the Committee shall not be influenced by the same at the stage of considering the claim of the petitioner for grant of caste (tribe) validity certificate. 8. Rule is made absolute in the aforesaid terms. However, there shall be no order as to costs. ( R.M. BORDE ) ( B.R. GAVAI ) JUDGE JUDGE ......................... bgp/wp11115