{1} IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE OF BOMBAY BENCH AT AURANGABAD WRIT PETITION NO.5211 OF 2009 Dattaprasad Marotirao Mudiraj R/o Degloor, Dist-Nanded PETITIONER VERSUS 1. The State of Maharashtra Through Secretary Tribal Development Department, Mantralaya, Mumbai 2. The Scheduled Tribe Caste Certificate Verification Committee, Aurangabad Through its Dy.Director (R) 3. The Sub Divisional Officer, Degloor, Dist-Nanded RESPONDENTS ....... Mr.S.M.Vibhute, advocate for petitioner Mr.K.B.Chaudhari, Addl.G.P. for respondents No.1 and 3 Mr.U.S.Malte, Advocate for respondent No.3. ....... [CORAM : P.V.HARDAS, and A.V.POTDAR, J.J.] DATE : 11th August 2009 ORAL JUDGMENT (PER A.V.POTDAR, J.) : 1. Rule. Rule returnable forthwith. With the consent of learned counsel for the parties this petition is heard finally at the stage of admission. {2} 2. By the present petition, under Article 226 of the Constitution of India, the petitioner has challenged the judgment and order dated 28.04.2009 passed by the Scrutiny Committee by which the Scrutiny Committee uphold the order dated 05.03.2009 passed by the Sub Divisional Officer, Degloor, by which the Sub Divisional Officer had rejected application filed by the petitioner for issuance of caste certificate claiming to be belonging to Mahadeo Koli Scheduled Tribe. 3. It appears that the petitioner had filed an application before the Sub Divisional Officer praying for issuance of a caste certificate as he claimed that he belongs to Mahadeo Koli Scheduled Tribe. The petitioner had submitted various documents along with the application including caste validity certificate issued in favour of real brother of the petitioner along with his affidavit. Inspite of these documents on record, Sub Divisional Officer rejected the application filed by the petitioner by observing that the documents produced by the petitioner are not sufficient to issue caste certificate in favour of the petitioner. The said order came to be challenged before the Scrutiny Committee by the petitioner. The scrutiny committee, however, uphold the order of the sub divisional officer by observing that the order passed by the Sub Divisional Officer is satisfactory and requires no interference. The said order of the scrutiny committee is impugned in this petition. 4. Heard learned counsel for the parties. We have perused the documents with assistance of the learned counsel. 5. It appears that the real brother of the petitioner has been {3} issued with the caste validity certificate, which was submitted with the application along with the affidavit of the caste validity holder showing the genealogy. On perusal of the impugned orders, it is apparent on the face of it that the caste validity certificate issued in favour of real brother of the petitioner is not considered by the sub divisional officer as well as by the Scrutiny Committee. It is but natural that the petitioner is entitled to claim the caste of his real brother. As these documents are not properly appreciated by the sub divisional officer and the scrutiny committee, the impugned orders passed by them are liable to be quashed and set aside. Accordingly, we quash and set aside the impugned orders dated 28.04.2009 passed by the Scrutiny Committee and dated 05.03.2009 passed by the Sub Divisional Officer, Degloor. We hereby direct the Sub Divisional Officer, Degloor to issue caste certificate in favour of the petitioner to the effect that he belongs to Mahadeo Koli Scheduled Tribe. 6. Needless to say that the caste certificate to be issued would be subject to verification by the competent scrutiny committee. 7. Rule is thus made absolute on the above terms with no order as to costs. [A.V.POTDAR, J.] [P.V.HARDAS, J.] drp/wp5211-09