1 IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT BOMBAY IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT BOMBAY IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT BOMBAY CIVIL APPELLATE JURISDICTION CIVIL APPELLATE JURISDICTION CIVIL APPELLATE JURISDICTION WRIT PETITION NO. 107 OF 2008 WRIT PETITION NO. 107 OF 2008 WRIT PETITION NO. 107 OF 2008 Vijaykumar Vishnu Jedge. .. Petitioner. vs. State of Maharashtra & Ors. .. Respondents. Mr. R.K. Mendadkar for Petitioner. Mr. V.S. Masurkar, GP., for Respondent nos.1 & 2. Mr. Machindra Deshmukh for Respondent No. 3. CORAM: J.N. PATEL, & CORAM: J.N. PATEL, & CORAM: J.N. PATEL, & A.A. SAYED, JJ A.A. SAYED, JJ A.A. SAYED, JJ. DATE: 31ST MARCH, 2008. DATE: 31ST MARCH, 2008. DATE: 31ST MARCH, 2008. P.C. . Heard. Rule. Rule returnable forthwith. GP waives service for respondent nos. 1 and 3 and Mr. Deshmukh waives service for respondent no. 3. 2. This petition can be disposed of at the stage of admission itself. The petitioner has come to this Court with the grievance that the Caste Scrutiny Committee has overlooked documentary evidence relating to the caste of respondent no. 3 and his parents, 2 particularly the father which has been recorded as "Maratha" and has issued a validity certificate in favour of the respondent no. 3 without application of mind. In support of his contention, the petitioner has annexed school leaving certificate of the relatives of the petitioner as well as petitioner’s own certificate which records his caste as "Hindu Maratha". The petitioner has produced the caste certificate of his sisters and brothers which clearly record their caste as "Hindu Maratha" whereas the respondent claims that Maratha and Kunbi is synonymous. All Kunbis are Marathas and that is why in most of the cases caste is recorded as "Hindu Maratha (Kunbi)". In the affidavit in reply filed by Pramod Baliram Jadhav, who is the Member Secretary Caste Verification Committee it is stated that in case this court directs the Committee is prepared to re-examine the caste validity of Respondent No. 3. 3. The copies of the caste certificates annexed to the petition by the petitioner of the relatives of respondent no. 3 are not disputed by respondent no. 3. The only explanation offered by respondent no. 3 is that these persons are illiterate including father of the petitioner and, therefore, erroneous entries have been made in the school leaving certificates and further all Kunbis are Marathas. 4. The learned counsel appearing for respondent 3 no. 3 has not been able to place before us any gazette notification from the competent authority which states that all Kunbis are Marathas. On the other hand, Marathas and Kunbis are distinct. Marathas are not notified as "Other Backward Classes" whereas Kunbis are notified as belonging to "Other Backward Classes". Therefore, such an argument cannot be accepted. Therefore, we quash and set aside the impugned order i.e the validity certificate issued by Respondent No. 2 and remand the matter to Respondent No. 2 to examine the caste claim of Respondent No. 3 afresh in accordance with law preferably within a period of three months from the date of passing of this order. 5. We may observe that it has come to the notice of this Court that Caste Scrutiny Committees are not functioning properly and they are prone to committing mistakes in their approach and certification of validity of caste certificates. Officials who are members of the Caste Scrutiny Committee are high ranking government officials and being public servants they are accountable for the duties which are expected to be discharged by them as members of the Caste Scrutiny Committee. We hope that they will act with responsibility. 6. The rule is made absolute in the aforesaid terms. 4 (J.N. Patel, J.) (J.N. Patel, J.) (J.N. Patel, J.) (A.A. Sayed, J.) (A.A. Sayed, J.) (A.A. Sayed, J.)