1 IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT BOMBAY BENCH AT AURANGABAD. WRIT PETITION NO. 2439 OF 2010 Umesh S/o Govindrao Machkure, Age-Minor, Occu. Education, R/o Sharda Nagar, Degloor, Tq. Degloor, Dist. Nanded through natural guardian/father Shri Govindrao S/o Dnyanoba Machkure, Age 45 years, Occu. Agri. R/o as above. .. PETITIONER. VERSUS 1) The State of Maharashtra, Through Secretary to Tribal Development Department,Mantralaya, Mumbai. 2) The Scheduled Tribe Caste Certificate Verification Committee, Aurangabad, through its Dy. Director (R), Aurangabad . 3) The Sub Divisional Officer, Degloor, Dist. Nanded. RESPONDENTS. ... Shri S.M. Vibhute, Advocate for Petitioner. Shri K.J.Ghute Patil, A.G.P. for respondent Nos. 1 & 3. Shri P.S. Patil, Advocate for respondent No. 2. 2 CORAM : P.V. HARDAS AND S.V. GANGAPURWALA, JJ. DATE : 20th April, 2010. ORAL JUDGMENT: (Per S.V. GANGAPURWALA,J.) 1. Rule. Rule returnable forthwith. With the consent of the learned counsels for the parties, the petition is taken up for final hearing at the stage of admission. 2. The Petitioner vide this petition under Article 226 of the Constitution of India, takes exception to the judgment and order dated 17/06/2009 passed by the Sub Divisional Officer, Degloor, and confirmed by the Scrutiny Committee in appeal vide its judgment and order dated 22/09/2009, thereby rejecting the application of the petitioner for issuance of a caste certificate as belonging to ‘Koli-Mahadev- Scheduled Tribe’. 3. The father of the petitioner has been issued caste certificate as belonging to ‘Koli- 3 Mahadev-Scheduled Tribe’. The Sub Divisional Officer, Degloor rejected the application of the petitioner on the ground that, at the time of census, the caste of the relatives of the petitioner is recorded as “Koli”. The Sub Divisional Officer, Degloor ignored the caste certificate issued in favour of the father of the petitioner. In our opinion, the fact that, father of the petitioner has been issued caste certificate as belonging to ‘Koli-Mahadev- Scheduled Tribe’, was prima-facie evidence to issue caste certificate in favour of the petitioner. The Sub Divisional Officer while issuing the caste certificate is not expected to make a detailed inquiry but has to only get prima-facie satisfied. 4. Accordingly, the Writ Petition is allowed. The impugned Judgment and order dated 17/06/2009 passed by the Sub Divisional Officer, Degloor, and the Judgment and order dated 22/09/2009 passed by the Scrutiny Committee are hereby quashed and set aside. The Respondent No. 3-Sub Divisional Officer, Degloor is hereby 4 directed to issue the caste certificate to the petitioner as belonging to ‘Koli Mahadev- Scheduled Tribe’ forthwith. 5. Rule is thus made absolute in the above terms, with no order as to costs. [S.V. GANGAPURWALA, J ] [ P.V. HARDAS, J ] SDM* WP2439.10(J)