1 IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT BOMBAY APPELLATE SIDE, BENCH AT AURANGABAD WRIT PETITION NO. 8793 OF 2010 Madhukar s/o. Ramrao Boinwad, Age 28 yrs., Occu. Service on Contract basis, R/o. at Sundgi, Post Havarga, Tq. Degloor, Dist. Nanded. ....Petitioner. Versus 1. The State of Maharashtra 2. The Deputy Director-Member Secretary, Scheduled Tribe Certificate Scrutiny Committee, Aurangabad Division, Aurangabad. 3. The Sub-Divisional Officer, Degloor, Tq. Degloor, Dist. Nanded. ....Respondents. Mrs. A.A. Gadekar, Advocate for petitioner. Mr. N.B. Khandare, AGP for respondent Nos. 1 and 3. Mr. R.P. Phatke, Advocate for respondent No. 2. CORAM : B.R. GAVAI AND A.A.SAYED, JJ. DATED : 21st October, 2010. ORAL JUDGMENT : [ PER B. R. GAVAI, J. ] 1. Rule. Rule made returnable forthwith. Heard by consent. 2. By way of present petition, the petitioner challenges the order 2 dated 31st of March 2010, passed by the respondent No. 3 - Sub-Divisional Officer, thereby rejecting the application filed by the petitioner for grant of caste certificate as belonging to "Mahadev Koli", which is notified as Scheduled Tribe and order passed by the respondent No. 2 - Scrutiny Committee, dated 28.5.2010, thereby rejecting the appeal filed by the present petitioner. 3. The learned counsel for the petitioner submits that when the petitioner had placed on record the caste certificate of petitioner's father and real brother and copy of validity certificate of his cousin, there is no reason as to why the respondent No. 3 ought to have rejected the claim of the petitioner and respondent No. 2 rejecting the appeal. 4. Shri. Khandare, learned Government Pleader for respondent Nos. 1 and 3 and Shri. Phatke, learned counsel appearing on behalf of respondent No. 2 - Committee submit that since the petitioner has failed to establish that the petitioner belongs to "Mahadev Koli", Scheduled Tribe, his claim has rightly been rejected. 5. This Court, in number of matters, has taken a view that what is contemplated at the stage of grant of caste certificate is only a preliminary inquiry and if a candidate, on the basis of material placed on record, prima facie satisfies that he belongs to Scheduled Caste or Scheduled Tribe, the authority should grant certificate. A detailed 3 inquiry, whether infact the candidate has proved beyond reasonable doubt that he belonged to such a Scheduled Tribe or Scheduled Caste, is warranted only at the stage of considering the request of a candidate for grant of validity certificate. 6. In the present case, we find that the petitioner has placed on record the caste certificate issued in the name of petitioner's father namely Ramrao dated 8th of June 1985 and the caste certificate issued in favour of his brother namely Subash s/o. Ramrao Boinwad dated 23rd of April 1991. The petitioner has also placed on record the validity certificate issued in favour of cousin of the petitioner namely Pralhad Shankar Boinwad along with his affidavit, which shows the genealogy. The affidavit and genealogy would show that the ancestors of the petitioners as well as said Pralhad is one Lalu Boinwad, who is the grandfather of the present petitioner as well as of said Pralhad. 7. In that view of the matter, we find that the petitioner has produced on record prima facie material to show that he belonged to "Mahadev Koli", which is notified as Scheduled Tribe, hence, the rejection of the claim of the petitioner by respondent No. 3 - Sub- Divisional Officer and the respondent No. 2 - Committed is not sustainable in law. 8. The petition is, therefore, allowed. The impugned orders are 4 quashed and set aside. Respondent No. 3 is directed to issue a certificate in favour of the petitioner, certifying that he belongs to "Mahadev Koli", Scheduled Tribe within a period of four weeks from today. We, however, make it clear that the observations made in this order shall not be taken into consideration by the respondent No. 2 - Committee while considering the claim of the petitioner for grant of validity. Rule is made absolute in aforesaid terms with no order as to costs. [ A. A. SAYED ] [ B. R. GAVAI ] Judge Judge ssc/wp8793.10