1 IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT BOMBAY CIVIL APPELLATE JURISDICTION WRIT PETITION NO.19/2008 Satish Ekanath Shinde Petitioner Vs. State of Maharashtra & Ors. Respondents Mr.R.K.Mendadkar for the petitioner Mr.Chandrakant Sonawane ,AGP for Res.nos.1 to 3 CORAM : J.N.PATEL & MRS.MRIDULA BHATKAR,JJ. DATED : 15TH APRIL,2009 P.C. . Heard. 2] The petitioner is impugning the order dated 13/2/2007 passed by the respondent Scheduled Tribe Certificate Scrutiny Committe ,Pune Division . The petitioner was issued a certificate by the competent authority who at the relevant time had power to issue certificate i.e.Tahasildar ,Executive Magistrate bearing no. Caste/SR./11116/89, dated 9/10/1989. This was referred to the respondent-Scrutiny Committee by the Senior Administrative 2 Officer,Government of India, Defence Ministry for verification of his caste as the petitioner claims that he belongs to caste Mahadeo Koli which is scheduled tribe. 3] The petitioner submitted the documents of his relatives and his own documents in support of his caste on which Caste Scrutiny Committee referred the matter to the Vigilance Committee which obtained certain documents such as extract of General Register of Admission from the Head Master of the school at Pimpalwandi indicating that the relatives on the paternal side were found belonging to caste Hindu Koli ,except the case of one Dattatraya Baburao Shinde whose caste has been recorded as Hindu Koli and thereafter by cipher the word ' Mahadev' Koli came to be added in different ink and different handwriting. 4] After collecting all this material the petitioner was given due notice and the enquiry report submitted by the Vigilance Department was forwarded to the petitioner and was called upon to submit his explanation. In the explanation it is stated by the petitioner that statement of Anjanibai Dattatraya Shinde who is related to the petitioner cannot be considered because she does not know the customs. Statement of Maruti Nana Shinde was recorded. Thereafter the applicant was called for personal hearing and after giving ample opportunity to the petitioner who was called upon to submit original 3 caste certificate pertaining to his father,grand father ,etc. , the applicant submitted his written submissions and copy of letter from Education Officer dated 1/3/2004 addressed to Maruti Nana Shinde. Further opportunity was given to the applicant in the matter and thereafter the Committee found that all the documents collected by the Vigilance Department as well as on the record of the Committee revealed that except Dattatraya Baburao Shinde all his relatives on paternal side are shown as either Koli or Hindu Koli in the various registers relating to admission in schools while they were prosecuting their studies. Further the Committee found that in so far as disputed entries relating to Dattatraya Shinde pertaining to the date of admission 17/6/1948 was concerned there is a remark made on 1.10.1947 showing that the registers are written newly by Mr.M.N. Kulkarni, B.S.Kambale and R.P.Gavali and therefore, the Committee found it to be unreliable. The Committee thereafter examined the material before it. Heard the petitioner and his uncle and found that in so far as affinity test is concerned the petitioner has given information on the traits,social traits and characteristics prevalent in Mahadev Koli which according to the Committee was taken from the text book and this led to the Committee to arrive at conclusion that from the information gathered by the committee particularly from the applicant's aunt regarding trait and characteristics those are not found to be associated with Mahadev Koli . Voluminous documents on record show that caste of all the parental relatives of the 4 petitioner is recorded as Koli or Hindu Koli .Therefore, the caste scrutinizing Committee came to the conclusion that the caste certificate issued to the petitioner has to be invalidated and as a consequence it was cancelled and confiscated. 5] Mr.Mendadkar ,learned counsel appearing for the petitioner pointed out to us that in view of the fact that the petitioner's relatives' caste certificate which records their caste as Mahdev Koli or Koli Mahadev and issued by the then competent authority had not been taken into consideration by the Scrutiny Committee. The Scrutiny Committee has not applied its mind to the caste of the petitioner and therefore, this is a fit case which deserves to be remitted to the Caste Committee. He has also placed reliance on various decisions to show that the Caste Scrutiny Committee ought not to have ignored the fact that the petitioner's cousin by name Ujwala was issued certificate pursuant to order dated 25/7/1986 by the Additional Commissioner , Nasik. The learned counsel has also drawn our attention to the procedure prescribed under the Caste Certificate Act of 2000 (Maharashtra XXIII of 2001) and particularly to section 12 which provides for the procedure to be followed and this has also deprived the petitioner of his right to be dealt in accordance with the procedure prescribed by the Act. The petitioner has relied on the case of (Mahesh Pralhadrao Lad Vs.State of Maharashtra & Ors.) (2009 (2) Mh.L.J. Page-90) in support of his contention wherein this Court 5 has held that the Committee while exercising its jurisdiction, should be satisfied that the caste validity certificate issued in favour of a blood relative meaning thereby father,son,daughter,brother,sister is genuine then instead of proceeding to call for the report of the Vigilance Officer proceed to issue the caste validity certificate and therefore, as the petitioner's counsin's certificate has been validated the Committee ought to have upheld the validity of caste certificate of the petitioner. Therefore, the impugned decision deserves to be quashed and set aside. 6] On the other hand the learned A.G.P.pointed out to this Court that the documents available with the Scrutiny Committee clearly make out a case that the petitioner belongs to caste Koli and not Mahadev Koli . Particularly when the date of birth and caste of the petitioner's father Ekanath Nana Shinde is recorded with Shri Shivaji Maratha School as Hindu Koli which entry is dated 1/7/1945 and that of petitioner' s grand father Nana Nathu Koli is recorded as Koli on 15/12/1910 in addition to the documents of other relatives considered by the Scrutiny Committee and ,therefore, the decision of the Scrutiny Committee does not call for any interference. 7] This Court in order to satisfy itself called for the original register in order to verify the genuineness of the entry of Dattatraya Bapurao Shinde whose caste entry has been recorded as Mahadev 6 Koli. We do not want to express any opinion on the record produced before us as we have our own doubt particularly in the backdrop that the Head Master of the school had issued certificate which discloses the original entry is Hindu Koli . This is not a case where any of the petitioner's family member's caste has been validated. We have applied ratio of Mahesh's case cited supra. We find that there is voluminous record which is available to show that the petitioner does not belong to caste Mahadev Koli or Koli Mahadev which is notified as scheduled caste as the entries of all his relatives on paternal side in the various registers clearly indicate that they belong to caste Koli. Therefore, the petition stands dismissed. (J. N. PATEL , J ) (MRIDULA BHATKAR, J)