1 IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT BOMBAY BENCH AT AURANGABAD. WRIT PETITION NO.3914 OF 2009 Sanjay s/o Linguram Aspatwar, Age minor, Occu.Education, R/o At Post Degloor, Tq.Degloor, District Nanded, Through Natural Guardian Father Shri Linguram s/o Lachhamanna Aspatwar, Age 44 years, Occu.Retired, 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 Deputy Director (R), Aurangabad 3. The Sub Divisional Officer, Degloor, Dist.Nanded .. Respondents Shri S.M.Vibhute, Advocate for petitioner Shri K.J.Ghute Patil, AGP for respondent No.1 & 3 Slhri M.S.Deshmukh, Advocate for respondent No.2 CORAM : P.V.HARDAS AND R.K.DESHPANDE, JJ DATE : 26th JUNE, 2009 2 ORAL JUDGMENT [ PER P.V.HARDAS , J ] 1. Rule. Rule returnable forthwith. With the consent of learned Counsel for the parties, this petition is heard finally at the stage of admission. 2. The petitioner by this petition under Article 226 of the Constitution of India impugns the order of the Sub-Divisional Officer, Degloor dated 22.1.2009 and the order of Scrutiny Committee dated 21.3.2009 in appeal confirming the order of the Sub-Divisional Officer rejecting the application of the petitioner for issuing a caste certificate as belonging to Mannerwarlu – Scheduled Tribe. 3. The petitioner who was desirous of obtaining a caste certificate, submitted an application before the Sub-Divisional Officer, Degloor. The petitioner heavily relied upon the school admission extract, Caste Certificate of her father and validity certificate granted to her cousin. The aforesaid documents are at item No.5 and 6 in the order of the Sub-Divisional Officer. The Sub-Divisional Officer did not choose to place any reliance upon the said documents on the ground that in the admission extract of the father of the petitioner the entry in respect of the caste of his father the word “Mannerwarlu” appeared to have been added in black ink subsequently. According to us, at this prima facie 3 stage of consideration of the material, the validity granted to the cousin of the petitioner would far outweigh any contrary entries made in respect of the caste of the father of the petitioner in his admission extract. In the light of that, therefore, we are inclined to allow this petition. 4. Accordingly, this writ petition is allowed. The impugned orders are hereby quashed and set aside. The respondent No.3 – Sub-Divisional Officer, Degloor is hereby directed to forthwith issue the caste certificate to the petitioner as belonging to Mannerwarlu – Scheduled Tribe. 5. Rule is thus made absolute on the terms indicated above with no order as to costs. ( R.K.DESHPANDE ) ( P.V.HARDAS ) JUDGE JUDGE vvr/3914.09wp 4