1 IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT BOMBAY, BENCH AT AURANGABAD WRIT PETITION NO.8396 OF 2009 Feroz s/o Wasi Khan, Age - 16 years, Occup. Education, R/o Labour Colony, Aurangabad, (U/Guardianship of petitioiner Wasi s/o Aziz Khan, AZge : 38 years, Occup. Service, R/o Labour Colony, Aurangabad ..PETITIONER VERSUS 1. The State of Maharashtra Through Secretary to Tribal Development Department, Mantralaya, Mumbai 2. The Scheduled Tribe Caste Committee Verification Committee Aurangabad, Through its Dy. Director (R) Aurangabad 3. The Sub Divisional Officer, Aurangabad, District - Aurangabad ..RESPONDENTS Mr P.A. Kulkarni, Advocate for the petitioner; Mr K.G. Patil, A.G.P. for respondents no.1 & 3; Mr R.P. Phatke, Standing Counsel for respondent no.2. CORAM : P.V. HARDAS AND S.V. GANGAPURWALA, JJ DATE : 9th April, 2010 ORAL JUDGMENT [ PER P.V.HARDAS , J ] 2 Rule. Rule returnable forthwith. With the consent of learned Counsel for the parties this petition is heard finally at the stage of admission. 2. By this petition under Article 226 of the Constitution of India the petitioner impugns the order passed by the Sub- Divisional Officer, Aurangabad, dated 3.8.2009 rejecting the application filed by the petitioner for issuance of a certificate as belonging to "Tadvi" - Scheduled Tribe. The petitioner also impugns the order passed by the Scrutiny Committee in Appeal, dated 27.10.2009 dismissing the appeal and confirming the order of the Sub-Divisional Officer. 3. Since the petitioner was minor, an application for issuance of the caste certificate came to be submitted by the father of the petitioner. The father of the petitioner has been issued with a caste certificate as belonging to "Tadvi" - Scheduled Tribe. The aforesaid certificate has been issued by a competent authority. The application of the petitioner came to be rejected by the Sub- Divisional Officer on the ground that the petitioner had failed to produce certificates/evidence of pre - 1950 period. According to us, this approach was wholly unjustified in the light of the fact that the father of the petitioner had been issued with a caste certificate by the competent authority. In the light of the 3 certificate issued to the father of the petitioner, according to us the petitioner ought to have been issued with the certificate as belonging to "Tadvi" - Scheduled Tribe. 4. The aforesaid orders, therefore, are wholly unsustainable and deserve to be quashed and set aside. Resultantly, this petition is allowed and the impugned orders are quashed and set aside and the Sub-Divisional Officer, Aurangabad is directed to forthwith issue certificate to the petitioner as belonging to "Tadvi" - Scheduled Tribe. Rule is thus made absolute on the above terms with no order as to costs. ( S.V. GANGAPURWALA ) ( P.V.HARDAS ) JUDGE JUDGE amj/wp8396.09 4