22. WP 9693-2007.doc IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT BOMBAY CIVIL APPELLATE JURISDICTION WRIT PETITION NO.9693 OF 2007 Pravin Son of Laxmikant Pise ) Aged about 35 years, occ. Service ) R/o. Shaniwarpura, Akot, Tq. Akot ) District Akola )…. Petitioner Versus 1. The Deputy Director of Education, ) Amravati Region, Walgaon Road, ) Amravati. ) 2. Committee for Scrutiny & Verification ) of Tribe Claim, Amravati )… Respondents ….. Mr. R.K. Mendadkar a/w Mr. Priyanka Shaw for the Petitioner. Mr. N.C. Walimbe, Addl. G.P. a/w Mr. P.M. Joshi, A.G.P. for Respondents. ….. CORAM: M.S. KARNIK & SANDESH D. PATIL, JJ. DATED : 20th AUGUST 2026 P.C. 1. The caste claim of the Petitioner as Thakur Scheduled Tribe has been invalidated by the Scrutiny Committee by the impugned order. In the earlier round of litigation, the Scrutiny Committee had invalidated the Schedule Tribe claim of the petitioners by an Order dated 27th January, 2003. The said Order was challenged before this RaJesh Chittewan, PS 1/5 22. WP 9693-2007.doc Court by way of Writ Petition No. 617 of 2003. While remitting the matter back to the Scrutiny Committee, this Court has observed that the Scrutiny Committee has transgressed its jurisdiction in rejecting the claim of the Petitioner despite the finding that the documents in question shows that he belongs to the Thakur Tribe. Therefore, in order to facilitate a fresh Order being passed by the Scrutiny Committee, the impugned Order dated 13th January 2003, was quashed and set aside. The Scrutiny Committee was directed to pass a fresh Order after hearing the Petitioner. In the light of the judgments referred to, a fresh Order was passed, which is impugned herein. 2. We have heard the learned Counsel for the respective parties. We have perused the impugned Order. The Scrutiny Committee though notes, that there are pre-constitutional documents which show the entries of caste of the Petitioner as ‘Thakur’, it goes on to record that it is not clear that those entries are of Thakur Castes, or Thakur Scheduled Tribe. The Scrutiny Committee, then proceeds to observe that the Thakur/Thakar word is found in various categories and therefore, it is difficult to determine that the candidate belongs RaJesh Chittewan, PS 2/5 22. WP 9693-2007.doc to Thakur Caste or Thakur Tribe only on the basis of documentary evidence. It is in this view of the matter, that the affinity test was referred to. 3. It is well settled that the affinity test is not a final litmus test. It is also well settled that documents of pre-Constitution era are of highest probative value in the eyes of law. Even the Scrutiny Committee has found that there are several pre-constitutional documents which indicate that the caste of the Petitioner is recorded as Thakur. It was only because the Scrutiny Committee was not sure that the candidate belongs to Thakur Caste or Thakur Tribe, that the affinity test was applied. The Supreme Court in Maharashtra Adiwasi Thakur Jamat Swarankshan Samiti Vs. State of Maharashtra & Ors.[2023 SCC OnLine SC 326] in para 20 has observed that :- “It is not possible to exhaustively lay down in which cases the Scrutiny Committee must refer the case to Vigilance Cell. One of the tests is as laid down in the case of Kumari Madhuri Patil1. It lays down that the documents of the pre-Constitution period showing the caste of the applicant and their ancestors have got the highest probative value. For example, if an applicant is able to 1 (1994) 6 SCC 241 RaJesh Chittewan, PS 3/5 22. WP 9693-2007.doc produce authentic and genuine documents of the pre- Constitution period showing that he belongs to a tribal community, there is no reason to discard his claim as prior to 1950, there were no reservations provided to the Tribes included in the ST order. In such a case, a reference to Vigilance Cell is not warranted at all.” 4. There is no dispute that the documents produced on record are authentic and genuine. The same have been verified by the Scrutiny Committee. In the documents the Caste is recorded as Thakur, the list of the documents clearly show that the entry Thakur has been included in the Schedule Tribe. The Scrutiny Committee in our opinion was not justified in invalidating the Caste claim of the petitioner. Hence, we pass the following Order :- : O R D E R : (i) Writ Petition is allowed. (ii) The Order dated 16th June 2004, passed by the Committee For Scrutiny And Verification of Tribe Claims, Amravati, is hereby quashed and set aside. (iii) It is declared that the Petitioner belongs to the Thakur Scheduled Tribe. RaJesh Chittewan, PS 4/5 22. WP 9693-2007.doc (iv) The certificate of validity be issued in favour of the Petitioner within a period of four weeks from the date of communication of this Order. 5. Writ Petition is disposed of. (SANDESH D. PATIL, J.) (M.S. KARNIK, J.) RaJesh Chittewan, PS 5/5