1 IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE OF BOMBAY BENCH AT AURANGABAD WRIT PETITION NO.5358 OF 2009 Rahul S/o.Balaji Somwad, Age-Minor, Occu-Education, R/o. At Aurala, Post : Sujalegaon, Tq.Naigaon, District-Nanded through father Natural guardian, Shri.Balaji S/o.Nagoba Somwad, Age-42 years, Occu-Service, R/o. As above. 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 Dy.Director (R), Aurangabad. 3. The Sub Divisional Officer, Degloor, District : Nanded RESPONDENTS Mr.S.M.Vibhute, learned counsel for petitioner. Mr.V.H.Dighe, learned AGP for respondent no.1 and 3 Mr.R.P.Phatake, learned counsel for respondent no.2. (CORAM : P.V.HARDAS, AND A.V.POTDAR, J.J.) DATE : 18/08/2009 2 ORAL JUDGMENT : (Per A.V.Potdar, J.) 1. Rule. Rule made returnable forthwith. Heard finally at the stage of admission by consent of the respective counsels. 2. By the present writ petition under Article 226 of The Constitution of India, the petitioner applicant has challenged the judgment and order dated 30/04/2009 passed by the Scrutiny Committee, Aurangabad Division Aurangabad by which the Scrutiny Committee confirmed the order passed by Sub Divisional Officer, Degloor dated 05/03/2009 by which the Sub Divisional Officer, Degloor has rejected the application of the petitioner dated 26/06/2008 praying for issuance of caste certificate as the petitioner applicant claimed that he belongs to Mannerwarlu Scheduled Tribe. 3. The facts which gave rise to file the present writ petition can be summarized as : The petitioner, a minor student has filed an application before the Sub Divisional Officer, Degloor on 26/06/2008 through his guardian father Balaji Nagoba Somwad for issuance of caste certificate as he claimed that he belongs to Mannerwarlu. Alongwith the said application, various documents were produced including the school leaving certificate, T.C. Issued by the School where the father of the petitioner had taken education, extract from the service book in which the caste of the father of the petitioner was recorded. The petitioner has also produced the caste certificate issued in the name of father of the petitioner applicant. 3 4. While rejecting this application, in his order dated 05/03/2009, it is observed by The Sub Divisional Officer, Degloor that the documents produced for issuance of caste certificate by the petitioner are not sufficient to issue the caste certificate as prayed for. Being aggrieved by the said order, the petitioner applicant has preferred an appeal before the Scrutiny Committee, Aurangabad Division Aurangabad. The said appeal was numbered as appeal no. 143/2009. Vide judgment and order dated 30/04/2009, the Scrutiny Committee Aurangabad Division Aurangabad has upheld the order passed by the Sub Divisional Officer, Degloor concluding that the order passed by Sub Divisional Officer, Degloor is satisfactory and the committee is aggrieved with the decision taken by the Sub Divisional Officer by rejecting the application of the petitioner. These orders are impugned in the present writ petition. 5. We heard the respective counsels for the parties. 6. During the course of arguments across the bar, our attention is drawn towards the documents submitted alongwith the application by the petitioner. In the documents produced alongwith the application in support of the claim by the petitioner, the petitioner has filed caste certificate issued in the name of father of the petitioner (page no.18 of the paper book) alongwith other documents. It is but natural that the son is entitled for the caste of his father. If the petitioner has produced the caste certificate issued by the competent authority to the father of the petitioner in which their 4 caste is recorded as Mannerwarlu at Sr.No.27 of the Tribe which is re-cognized as Scheduled Tribe under the relevant enactment. On the face of the order impugned in the present writ petition, it appears that there is no proper application of mind towards the documentary evidence produced on behalf of the petitioner in support of his caste claim. Thus the orders passed by The Sub Divisional Officer, Degloor as well as the Scrutiny Committee, Aurangabad Division Aurangabad suffers from non application of mind. Hence these orders are liable to be quashed and set aside. Accordingly we quash and set aside the impugned orders passed by the Scrutiny Committee, Aurangabad Division Aurangabad as well as the order passed by the Sub Divisional Officer, Degloor. We hereby direct the Sub Divisional officer, Degloor to issue caste certificate to the petitioner as he belongs to Mannerwarlu Scheduled Tribe. 7. Needless to say that the caste certificate to be issued will be subject to verification by competent Scrutiny Committee. 8. Rule thus made absolute as indicated above, and accordingly the writ petition stands disposed of with no order as to costs. (A.V.POTDAR, J.) (P.V.HARDAS, J.) khs/AUGUST 2009/wp5358-09