1 IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT BOMBAY BENCH AT AURANGABAD. WRIT PETITION NO.3916 OF 2009 Shankar s/o Prakashrao Mudiraj, Age 31 years, Occu.Nil, R/o At Post Karadkhedwadi, Taluka Degloor, Dist.Nanded .. 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 Deputy Director (R), Aurangabad 3. The Sub Divisional Officer, Degloor, Dist.Nanded .. Respondents Shri S.M.Vibhute, Advocate for petitioner Shri N.N.Jadhav, AGP for respondent No.1 & 3 Slhri M.S.Deshmukh, Advocate for respondent No.2 CORAM : P.V.HARDAS AND R.K.DESHPANDE, JJ DATE : 26th JUNE, 2009 2 ORAL JUDGMENT [ PER P.V.HARDAS , 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. The petitioner by this petition under Article 226 of the Constitution of India impugns the order of the Sub-Divisional Officer, Degloor dated 13.1.2009 and the order of Scrutiny Committee dated 30.3.2009 in appeal confirming the order of the Sub-Divisional Officer rejecting the application of the petitioner for issuing a caste certificate as belonging to Koli Mahadev– Scheduled Tribe. 3. The petitioner who was desirous of obtaining a caste certificate, submitted an application before the Sub-Divisional Officer, Degloor. The petitioner heavily relied upon the validity certificate granted to his uncle by name Uttam Eknath Mudiraj and validity certificate granted to his real cousin by name Madnesh Ashok Mudiraj. The aforesaid documents are at item No.6 and 7 in the order of the Sub-Divisional Officer. The Sub- Divisional Officer did not choose to place any reliance upon the said documents on the ground that the census documents disclosed that the caste of some of the relatives of the petitioner was recorded as “Koli” and the word “Mahadev” appeared to have been added. 3 4. The petitioner had also produced not only the copies of the validity certificates but also the genealogy. We have perused the genealogy and according to us, the petitioner has been successful in establishing the relationship between the two validity holders. At this prima facie stage, according to us, this material was sufficient for issuance of a caste certificate. 5. Accordingly, this writ petition is allowed. The impugned orders are hereby quashed and set aside. The respondent No.3 – Sub-Divisional Officer, Degloor is hereby directed to forthwith issue the caste certificate to the petitioner as belonging to Koli Mahadev – Scheduled Tribe. 6. Rule is thus made absolute on the terms indicated above with no order as to costs. ( R.K.DESHPANDE ) ( P.V.HARDAS ) JUDGE JUDGE vvr/3916.09wp 4