1 WP 2815.22 IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT BOMBAY NAGPUR BENCH : NAGPUR WRIT PETITION NO.2815 OF 2022 1. Sunil s/o Subhashrao Chavan, Aged 42 years, Occ. Naik Police Constable, Karanja SDPO Office, R/o. Wara Jahangir, Tq. District Wasim. 2. Kapil s/o Subhashrao Chavan, Aged 38 years, Occ. Selected as Police Constable, R/o. Wara Jahangir, Tq. District-Washim. .. Petitioners .. Versus.. 1. The Scheduled Tribe Caste Certificate Scrutiny Committee, through its Member Secretary, Chaprasipura, Amravati. 2. Superintendent of Police, Washim, District-Washim. 3. State of Maharashtra, through its Secretary, Department of Home, Mantralaya, Mumbai- 400 032. .. Respondents ……….. Shri R.S. Parsodkar, Advocate for Petitioners. Shri V.A. Thakare, AGP for Respondents/State. ……….. CORAM : SMT. M.S. JAWALKAR AND PRAVIN S. PATIL, JJ. RESERVED ON : 16 th JUNE, 2025. PRONOUNCED ON : 24 th JUNE, 2025. 2025:BHC-NAG:5850-DB 2 WP 2815.22 JUDGMENT [Per : Pravin S. Patil, J.] 1. Rule. Rule made returnable forthwith. By consent of the learned Counsel for the parties, the matter is taken up for final disposal. 2. By this petition, the petitioners are challenging the order passed by respondent no.1-The Scheduled Tribe Caste Certificate Scrutiny Committee, Amravati (hereinafter referred to as ‘Committee’) dated 27.04.2022 by which the caste claim of the petitioners is invalidated. 3. In short, the case of the petitioners is that petitioner no.1, who was appointed as a Police Constable on 11.09.2001 by the State of Maharashtra in the respondent no.2’s office is presently working as a Naik Police Constable in SDPO office, Karanja (Lad), District-Washim. The petitioner no.2 was selected as a Police Constable on 30.07.2006 from the Scheduled Tribe category. However, as he failed to submit the Caste Validity Certificate within a period of six months, the respondent no.2, by order dated 01.12.2007 cancelled his 3 WP 2815.22 appointment order as a Police Constable. 4. It is the submission of the petitioner no.1 that on 06.01.2005 the Competent Authority conferred the caste certificate of ‘Thakur’, Scheduled Tribe which is recognized at Sr. No.44 in the Constitution (Scheduled Tribe) Order, 1950. The same was forwarded by respondent no.2 to respondent no.1-Committee on 08.03.2002. Likewise, the caste claim of petitioner no.2 was forwarded to the office of the respondent no.1-Committee on 22.08.2016 through Police Superintendent, Washim. 5. The petitioners along with their proposal of caste claim, placed reliance near about 47 documents to show that the forefathers of the petitioners belong’s to the caste of ‘Thakur’, Scheduled Tribe. The petitioners also produced the genealogical tree along with affidavit before the Caste Scrutiny Committee, dated 05.04.2019 (pg.71), which is reproduced as under : 4 WP 2815.22 ukxksth Bkdwj ¼[kkij iatksck½ dksaMth Bkdqj nsock Bkdwj ykyth Bkdqj jkek nkthck x.kirh ioZr ukjk;.k gfjHkkÅ jes’k jkepanz mQZ gfj lqHkk"k izYgkn dkS’kY;k v’kksd fnid izdk’k liuk ¼oS/k½ foB~By fot; lat; e/kqdj lqfuy¼Lor%½ dihy vfouk’k ¼oS/k½ eathr txfn’k vkfnR; ¼oS/k½ ¼oS/k½ ¼oS/k½ 6. It is the case of the petitioners that the pre- independence documents like School Leaving Certificate of grandfather namely Narayan Dajiba dated 01.09.1925, School Admission Register of uncle of the petitioners namely Datta Narayan dated 28.04.1949, School Leaving Certificate of another uncle Ramchandra Narayan dated 07.03.1946, School Admission Register of grandfather Narayan Dajiba dated 30.03.1918 and other old documents produced on record clearly demonstrate that all the ancestors of the petitioners belong to caste ‘Thakur’ Scheduled Tribe. However, learned Members of the Committee failed to consider the documents in right perspective while deciding their caste claim. In addition 5 WP 2815.22 to above documents, the petitioners also relied upon the judgment passed by this Court in the case of Jagdish Chavan dated 25.07.2019 in Writ Petition No.5105/2019 and Manjit Chavan dated 26.07.2019 in Writ Petition No.2131/2018, whereby the linear relatives are held to be of ‘Thakur’ Scheduled Tribe caste. But everything has been discarded by the Committee. Hence, impugned order deserves to be quashed and set aside. 7. The learned AGP appearing for the respondent no1- Committee came with a specific submission that in the Vigilance Cell Report, it is found that one entry of birth record in the name of Dajiba of year 1908 shows the caste of forefathers of petitioners as ‘Marathe’ and in another entry in the name of Ethya Va Dajiba of year 1921 found in Kotwal Book shows the caste ‘Marathe’. Hence, considering the said entries, the Members of the Committee had taken right decision to invalidate the caste claim of the petitioners. 8. It is further stated by the respondent no.1 that the caste claim of the cousin brother of the petitioners namely Vijay 6 WP 2815.22 Ramchandra Chavan has been rejected by this Court in Chhaya Hajari and other connected matters. However, by suppressing this fact, Jagdish, Aditya and Manjit obtained the orders from this Court. 9. Lastly, it is stated that the caste validity certificates obtained by relatives from Aurangabad Scheduled Tribe Scrutiny Committee cannot be relied upon as same were obtained by suppressing the facts from Aurangabad Committee that their forefather’s namely “Dajiba” was residing at Wara- Jahangir, Tq. & Dist. Washim. Hence, on the basis of this submission, it is stated that it is not a fit case for interference and same deserves to be dismissed. 10. We have heard the respective counsel in the matter and perused the entire record produced by the respondent no.1- Committee in the present matter. 11. At the outset, it is pointed out that from the family tree reproduced above shows that Laxman alias Nagoji had three sons namely Kondaji, Deoba and Lalji. Kondaji had one 7 WP 2815.22 son Rama, Deoba had a son namely Dajiba, Lalji had a son namely Ganpati. As per the said genealogical tree, it is clear that Dajiba was having the son namely, Narayan. Narayan was having three sons and one daughter namely, Ramchandra alias Hari, Subhash, Pralhad and Kaushalya. The present petitioners are the sons of Subhash. This genealogical tree is not disputed in the matter. 12. It is further pertinent to note that the petitioners placed before the Members of the Committee the School Leaving Certificate of the grandfather namely Narayan Dajiba Thakur dated 01.09.1925, wherein his caste is recorded as ‘Thakur’, Scheduled Tribe. So also, the Executive Magistrate, Mangrulpir on 30.07.1982 issued Caste Certificate of ‘Thakur’ Scheduled Tribe in the name of Narayan Dajiba Thakur. The birth entry of son of Narayan Dajiba dated 16.07.1943 shows the caste as ‘Thakur’ Scheduled Tribe. Furthermore, in the School Admission Register of Zilla Parishad Marathi School Wara Jahangir, the caste of uncle of the petitioners namely Datta Narayan is also recorded as ‘Thakur’ Scheduled Tribe. In the School Leaving Certificate of another uncle namely 8 WP 2815.22 Ramchandra Narayan, dated 07.03.1946 his caste is recorded as ‘Thakur’ Scheduled Tribe. In the School Admission Register of grandfather of the petitioners Narayan Dajiba, the caste is recorded on 30.03.1918 as ‘Thakur’ Scheduled Tribe. In the School Leaving Certificate of daughters of Narayan namely Kaushalya is recorded as ‘Thakur’ Scheduled Tribe on 18.07.1957 and another daughter namely Ku. Kashi is also recorded as a ‘Thakur’ Scheduled Tribe on 08.07.1950. As such, these documents which were produced before the Caste Scrutiny Committee, it is clear that the forefathers of the petitioners are belonging to the caste ‘Thakur’ Scheduled Tribe. 13. As stated above, the caste claim of the petitioner no.1 was forwarded on 08.03.2002. Accordingly, the Vigilance Cell conducted enquiry and submitted its report in respect of petitioner no.1 and thereby accepted all the entries of ‘Thakur’ Scheduled Tribe. This fact is confirmed from the report placed on record dated 15.12.2010 (pg.72-81). On the basis of the said report, the show cause notice was issued to the petitioner no.2 on 10.01.2017 and sought explanation on the said report. The bare perusal of the said report justified the submission of 9 WP 2815.22 the petitioners that earlier Vigilance Cell accepted all the entries of forefathers of petitioners as ‘Thakur’ Scheduled Tribe. 14. It is stated that as the caste claim of the petitioner no.1 was pending since long, the Writ Petition No.177/2020 came to be filed before this Court, seeking thereby direction to the Caste Scrutiny Committee to decide the caste claim. So also, the petitioner no.2 also approached before this Court by filing Writ Petition No.2087/2008 for issuing direction to the Committee to decide his caste claim. This court accordingly issued direction to the Committee Members to decide the pending caste claim of petitioners expeditiously. 15. In pursuance of said direction, it is seen that Committee again call the fresh Vigilance Cell Report. Accordingly, on the basis of same documents, second enquiry was conducted and submitted its report on 26.10.2021 i.e. second report. According to the said report, it is stated that one Dajiba is recorded as ‘Marathe’ and entry in that regard is of the year 1908 is available in the old record and entry of one Ethaya Va Dajiba of the year 1921 was shown as ‘Maratha’. 10 WP 2815.22 Accordingly, the explanation was called from the petitioners about the said entries. 16. It is pertinent to note that on 20.12.2021 the petitioners raised objection on the Vigilance Cell report by stating that their place of residence is the village Wara Jahangir, Tahsil–District, Washim. The entries in the name of Dajiba Marathe of order 1908 and Ethya of 1929 is of an unknown person resident of another village. The documents obtained by the Vigilance Cell in respect of those persons are from Chinch Ba Pen, Tah-Risod, District-Washim. Hence, it is stated that their ancestors are not of the said village and, therefore, the entries in the name of said person as shown in Vigilance Cell are of unknown to petitioners. Merely because of identical name as Dajiba cannot be a reason to hold that they are ancestors of the petitioners. However, the learned Committee Members, while deciding the caste claim, failed to deal with an objection raised by the petitioners to the Vigilance Cell Report and wrongly relied upon the said entry of unknown person, who is from different village in which his caste was recorded as ‘Marathe’. As such, it is clear that Committee Members recorded perverse 11 WP 2815.22 finding in the impugned order. 17. Furthermore, petitioners, in respect of findings of Committee Members of Dajiba and Ethaya Va Dajiba, relied upon the judgment delivered by this Hon’ble Court in Writ Petition No.2773/2022 [Ku. Vaishnavi Vijay Chavan .vs. The Scheduled Tribe Caste Certificate Scrutiny Committee and others] decided on 13.07.2022, wherein this Court, while considering the caste claim of Ku. Vaishnavi, who is the niece of the petitioners, had dealt with this issue and discarded the submission of the Committee in respect of entries recorded in favour of one Dajiba who is from different village. Hence, it it the submission of the petitioners that considering the judgment of the coordinate bench, this issue remains no more res integra and hence on this count also, the findings recorded by the Caste Scrutiny Committee are illegal. 18. We have considered the documents placed on record which are also reproduced in the order of the Scrutiny Committee. The perusal of same established the fact that the ancestors of petitioners were recorded consistently as a 12 WP 2815.22 ‘Thakur’. Not only this, the cousin brother of the petitioners has been granted caste validity by this Court by judgment dated 25.07.2019, 26.07.2019 and Writ Petition No.2773/2022 in the case of Jagdish Chavan, Manjit Chavan and Ku. Vaishnavi Chavan respectively. The said judgments are till date holding the field and not quash and set side. As such, reliance of petitioners in the case of Apoorva d/o Vinay Nichale .vs. Divisional Caste Certificate Scrutiny Committee No.1 and others, reported in 2010 (6) Mh.L.J. 401, is justified in the matter. This Hon’ble Court by relying upon the Government Resolution dated 22.08.2007, held that where during the course of enquiry or scrutiny of a caste claim, it is seen that the caste claim of a blood relative such as father, son, daughter, brother and sister has been accepted, in that case, the Committee should grant the caste validity certificate without insisting on any other proof. 19. The respondent no.1-Committee heavily relied upon the fact that the petitioners and their relatives had suppressed the fact from this Hon’ble Court that the caste claim of their cousin brother namely Vijay Ramchandra Chavan has been 13 WP 2815.22 rejected by this Court and thereby the relatives of petitioners obtained the caste validity by suppressing the material facts from this Court. In this regard, it is stated that the caste claim of Vijay Ramchandra Chavan was rejected on the ground of affinity test along with other candidates and that issue is now pending before the Hon’ble Supreme Court of India. However, in the present case, we are satisfied from the old documents which is having more probative value that ancestors of petitioners are belonging to ‘Thakur’ Scheduled Tribe. So also in subsequent judgment of this Court in case of relatives of petitioners, more particularly in Vaishnavi’s case, every aspect is already dealt with. Hence, the same cannot be a reason to reject the caste claim of the petitioners. 20. The other ground of rejection put-forth in the impugned order is that the validity certificate obtained by the other relatives is from Aurangabad Committee by suppressing the fact that forefathers are residing at District-Wasim. In this regard, it is stated that this Court in Writ Petition No.2685/2022 clearly hold as under : 14 WP 2815.22 “there is no law which restricts the validity certificate only to the area over which the Scrutiny Committee has its jurisdiction. Once the validity certificate is granted to a claimant, it would become conclusive proof of social status acquired by that person for all purpose and in any territory were such proof is required to be submitted. Once the validity certificate is granted, it becomes the conclusive proof of social status acquired by that person for all purpose and in any territory where such proof is required to be submitted. Therefore, such validity certificate also be used as having sufficient evidentiary value in the caste or tribe claim placed by other relatives of the person in whose favour those certificates are issued”. Hence, finding recorded by the Scrutiny Committee in this regard is totally erroneous and contrary to the law laid down by this Court. 21. It is herewith submitted that this court in the case of Vaishnavi Chavan decided on 13.07.2022 in Writ Petition No.2773/2022 has considered the entire controversy in detail. Hence, there is no reason to this Court to take another view as the findings recorded in the said judgment, according to us, squarely applicable in the present case. Hence, in the background of the above said factual position, the present petition deserves to be allowed. Hence, we proceed to pass the 15 WP 2815.22 following order : O R D E R (i) The writ petition is allowed. (ii) The impugned order passed by the respondent no.1-The Scheduled Tribe Caste Certificate Scrutiny Committee, Amravati in case Nos.DD/TCSC/AMT/II-08106 and DD/TCSC/AMT/II-12/2002 dated 27.04.2022 of invalidating the caste claim of the petitioners as ‘Thakur’ Scheduled Tribe, is hereby quashed and set aside. (iii) It is declared that the petitioners belong to ‘Thakur’ Scheduled Tribe. (iv) The Respondent no.1-Caste Scrutiny Committee, Amravati is hereby directed to issue the Caste Validity Certificate to the petitioners within a period of four weeks from the date of production of copy of the judgment. 22. Rule is made absolute in the above terms. No costs. (Pravin S. Patil, J.) (Smt. M.S. Jawalkar, J.) Gulande