1 IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT BOMBAY BENCH AT AURANGABAD WRIT PETITION NO.3671 OF 2007 Yogesh s/o Namdeo Chavan, Age-21 years, Occu:Student, R/o-Sarangkheda, Tq-Shahada, Dist-Nanded. ...PETITIONER. VERSUS 1) The State of Maharashtra, Through its Secretary, Higher & Technical Education Department, Mantralaya, Mumbai, 2) The Scheduled Tribe Certificate Scrutiny Committee, Nasik, (Through its Member Secretary), 3) The Director of Technical Education, Maharashtra State, Mumbai, 4) The Dean, Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar Technological University, Lonere, Tq-Mahad, Dist-Raigad, 5) The Sub-Divisional Officer, Nandurbar. ...RESPONDENTS. 2 ... Shri.S.B. Talekar Advocate for Petitioner. Shri.V.H. Dighe, A.G.P. for Respondent Nos. 1, 3 and 5. Shri.P.S. Patil Advocate for Respondent No.2. ... CORAM: NARESH H. PATIL AND N.D. DESHPANDE, JJ. DATE : 31ST MARCH, 2010. ORAL JUDGMENT [PER NARESH H. PATIL, J.] : 1. Heard learned counsel for the parties. Rule. Rule made returnable forthwith. By consent of the learned counsel for the parties, the matter is taken up for final hearing at the stage of admission itself. 2. The Petitioner's application for issuance of caste certificate as "Mahadeo Koli" was rejected by an order passed by the Sub Divisional Officer, Nandurbar dated 24th December, 2004 (Exhibit F). 3 3. The Petitioner filed appeal under Section-5 of the Maharashtra Scheduled Caste, Scheduled Tribes, De-notified Tribes (Vimukta Jatis), Nomadic Tribes, Other Backward Classes and Special Backward Category (Regulation of Issuance and Verification of) Caste Certificate Act, 2000 before the committee. By an order dated 5th May, 2007 the appeal filed by the Petitioner came to be dismissed. 4. The said order is assailed before us in the Writ Petition. 5. The learned counsel for the Petitioner has brought on record evidence produced before the Sub Divisional Officer and Committee. Vigilance cell report was also called for by the Committee. Thereafter the Committee held that the Petitioner failed to establish his claim. 6. We have perused the documents and 4 evidence produced by the Petitioner before the Committee. The Committee observed that though the Constitution Scheduled Tribes (Amendment) Order (Act No.108 of 1997) was brought into effect, the person claiming benefits of scheduled tribe will have to be from the tribal Districts like Ahmednagar, Kolaba, Nashik, Poona and Thana. 7. We do not approve of this view of the Committee. On the basis of other documents, we find that the Petitioner prima facie made out a case for issuance of caste certificate. 8. Learned counsel for the Scrutiny Committee supported the order passed by the Sub Divisional Officer and the Scrutiny Committee. 9. Prima facie, from the material on record we are convinced that the caste certificate is required to be issued to the Petitioner. 10. The orders passed by the Sub Divisional 5 Officer dated 24th December 2004 and the order passed by the Committee dated 5th May 2007, are quashed and set aside. We direct the Sub Divisional Officer, Nandurbar to issue caste certificate to the Petitioner as "Mahadeo Koli", within four weeks from the date of communication of the order. 11. The caste certificate shall thereafter, be forwarded for verification to the Scrutiny Committee. The Scrutiny Committee shall thereafter verify and decide the caste certificate of the Petitioner within six months from the date of receipt of the same on its own merits. All issues are kept open. 12. We have adopted the view to direct the Authority to grant caste certificate on the basis of prima facie assessment of the material placed before us. The Scrutiny Committee shall deal with the issue in accordance with law. 6 13. The learned counsel Shri Talekar submitted that as this Court was prima facie convinced that Petitioner was entitled to be issued caste certificate, instead of remanding the matter back, the Court shall direct the Committee to issue validity certificate to the Petitioner. The counsel placed reliance on provisions of Section 5 of Maharashtra Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, De-Notified Tribes, (Vimukta Jatis), Nomadic Tribes, Other Backward Classes and Special Backward Category (Regulation of Issuance and Verification of ) Caste Certificate Act, 2000 (For short 'the Act of 2000'). For consideration of this issue, we may reproduce the provisions of Section 5 of the Act of 2000, in respect of filing of appeal. "5. Appeal.- (1) Any person aggrieved by an order of rejection of application passed by the Competent Authority under sub-section (1) of section 4 may, within 30 days 7 from the date of receipt of order, appeal to the Appellate Authority specified by the Government by notification in the official Gazette. (2) The Appellate Authority may within a period of three months, after giving the appellant an opportunity of being heard and after satisfying itself about the genuineness or otherwise of the claim of the appellant either confirm the rejection order, or set aside the order of the Competent Authority and direct the Competent Authority to issue the caste certificate." 14. In the present Petition, the Petitioner has challenged the order passed by the Committee in its appellate authority under Section 5 of the Act of 2000. As we are setting aside the order passed by the Committee, it would be proper and reasonable for us to direct the Authority/the Sub 8 Divisional Officer to issue caste certificate to the Petitioner. The said caste certificate would be subjected to verification by the Committee. By- passing this procedure, granting validity certificate straight-way by this Court would amount to doing violence to the provisions of Section 5 of the Act of 2000. We do not find such an approach to be reasonable and proper. We, therefore, reject the contention of the learned counsel on this count. 15. Rule is made absolute on the terms indicated above. [N.D. DESHPANDE, J.] [NARESH H. PATIL, J.] asb/MAR10/wp3671.07