High Court · 2024
Legal Reasoning
1 946.WP-7513-2024.doc IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT BOMBAY BENCH AT AURANGABAD Writ Petition No. 7513 OF 2024Kalpana Waman SadleAge : 30 years, Occ. Student,R/o At Post Nalegoan, Tq. Chakur,Dist. Latur. ...Petitioner Versus1.The State of Maharashtra,Trough its Secretary,Tribal Development Department,Mantralaya, Mumbai-32.2.Scheduled Tribe Certificate ScrutinyCommittee, Aurangabad. ...Respondents _ _ _ Mr. Bayas Anandsingh Sangramsingh, Advocate for Petitioner.Mr. P.S. Patil, Addl.GP for Respondent/State. _ _ _ CORAM : MANGESH S. PATIL & SHAILESH P. BRAHME, JJ.. DATE : 05 SEPTEMBER 2024 FINAL ORDER [Per: Shailesh P. Brahme, J.] :.Heard both sides finally considering exigency in the matter.2.The petitioner is aggrieved by the judgment and orderdated 10.08.2022 passed by the Scrutiny Committee,confiscating and invalidating her tribe certificate of ‘KoliMahadev’ Scheduled Tribe. She seeks to rely on the validity 2 946.WP-7513-2024.doc certificates of her real brother Umakant Sadle. She is furtherrelying on the school record of Pitambar of 1955 and Faslerecord of Bajirao. It is submitted that impugned judgment isdiscriminatory and arbitrary. It is perversity to overlookexplanation tendered by the petitioner for the incompatiblerecord pitted against her. It is submitted that in view ofjudgment of High Court in the matter of Maharashtra AdiwasiThakur Jamat Swarakshan Samiti Vs. State of Maharashtra andOrs., 2023 SCC Online SC 326, the validity should have beenissued to her. 3.Per contra, learned AGP Mr. Patil would oppose thesubmission of the petitioner. He tenders on record originalpapers of validity holder – Umakant. He would submit that theCommittee has rightly rejected the tribe claim consideringincompatible school record and bogus Fasli record which wouldamount to suppression of material facts and fraud. It issubmitted that the Committee is justified in discarding Faslirecord considering the statement of father of the petitioner. It isfurther submitted that there was no proper verification ofdocuments and the validity issued to petitioner’s father is notreliable one. He would submit that the school record of Pitambarof 1955 on which the reliance is placed has not been verified andit is being produced first time before the High Court. Lastly it issubmitted that the petitioner is not entitled to any relief. 4.We have considered submissions of the parties and also 3 946.WP-7513-2024.doc gone through the original papers. The petitioner’s brother –Umakant was issued with validity certificate by the Committeeafter conducting vigilance inquiry. The vigilance report showsthat the validity certificates of Kulbhushan and Anil are referredto and Fasli record of 1356 of Bajirao is relied on. Thedocuments which were verified are as follows :(i)School record of Umakant/brother of claimant, of 1993(ii)School record of Kalpana/present petitioner, of 1997(iii)School record of Mahesh/brother of petitioner of 20005.During the course of inquiry, following incompatible schoolrecord of blood relatives of the petitioner was disclosed :Sr.No.School nameStudent’s nameRelationshipCasteAdmission dateRemark1.Zilla Parishad Primary School, Mahadevwadi, Taluka Ausa, District LaturLalita Jayvanta SadleCousin Paternal AuntKoli07.07.19652.Zilla Parishad Primary School, Mahadevwadi, Taluka Ausa, District LaturShantabai Mahadu SadleCousin Paternal AuntKoli07.07.19653.Zilla Parishad Primary School, Mahadevwadi, Taluka Ausa, District LaturBalaji Mahadu SadleCousin UncleKoli13.07.19684.Zilla Parishad Primary School, Mahadevwadi, Taluka Ausa, District LaturChabubai Narsing SadleCousin Paternal AuntKoli23.07.19685.Zilla Parishad Primary School, Mahadevwadi, Taluka Ausa, District LaturNavnath Narsing SadleCousin UncleKoli16.06.19696.Zilla Parishad Primary School, Mahadevwadi, Taluka Ausa, District LaturShivaji Mahadu SadleCousin UncleKoli10.07.19707.Zilla Parishad Primary School, Mahadevwadi, Taluka Ausa, District LaturLubjabai Shankar SadleCousin Paternal AuntKoli01.09.19718.Zilla Parishad Primary School, Mahadevwadi, Taluka Ausa, District LaturMadan Shankar SadleUncleKoli01.09.1971 4 946.WP-7513-2024.doc 9.Zilla Parishad Primary School, Mahadevwadi, Taluka Ausa, District LaturShardabai Mahadu SadleCousin Paternal AuntKoli01.09.197110.Zilla Parishad Primary School, Mahadevwadi, Taluka Ausa, District LaturShardabai Mahadu SadleCousin Paternal AuntKoli01.09.197111.Zilla Parishad Primary School, Mahadevwadi, Taluka Ausa, District LaturVandanabai Pandharinath SadleCousin Paternal AuntKoli07.07.197212.Zilla Parishad Primary School, Mahadevwadi, Taluka Ausa, District LaturShakuntalabai Baburao SadleCousin Paternal AuntKoli07.07.197213.Zilla Parishad Primary School, Mahadevwadi, Taluka Ausa, District LaturSatyakala Dhondiram SadleCousin Paternal AuntKoli12.07.197214.Zilla Parishad Primary School, Mahadevwadi, Taluka Ausa, District LaturDaivkala Jaywantrao SadleCousin Paternal AuntKoli12.07.197215.Zilla Parishad Primary School, Mahadevwadi, Taluka Ausa, District LaturShobhabai Narsing SadleCousin Paternal AuntKoli12.07.197316.Zilla Parishad Primary School, Mahadevwadi, Taluka Ausa, District LaturRamesh Pitambar SadleUncleKoli12.07.197317.Zilla Parishad Primary School, Mahadevwadi, Taluka Ausa, District LaturSurekha Pandharinath SadleCousin SisterKoli25.07.197418.Zilla Parishad Primary School, Mahadevwadi, Taluka Ausa, District LaturJanabai DhondiramSadleCousin Paternal AuntKoli25.07.197419.Zilla Parishad Primary School, Mahadevwadi, Taluka Ausa, District LaturSudhakar Shankar SadleUncleKoli01.09.197420.Zilla Parishad Primary School, Mahadevwadi, Taluka Ausa, District LaturRajendra Dhondiram SadleCousin UncleKoli05.07.197521.Zilla Parishad Primary School, Mahadevwadi, Taluka Ausa, District LaturNandkumar Babu SadleCousin UncleKoli07.07.1975There is correction in ‘Dhangarword by writing Hindu Dhangar word in the columnof religion caste.22.Zilla Parishad Primary School, Mahadevwadi, Taluka Ausa, District LaturBabu Pandhari SadleCousin UncleKoli28.06.197823.Zilla Parishad Primary School, Mahadevwadi, Taluka Ausa, District LaturBirku Pitambar SadleAuntKoli18.06.1979 5 946.WP-7513-2024.doc 6.We have taken into considering the reply tendered by thepetitioner to vigilance report dated 14.07.2022. The petitionerhas disowned relationship with some of the persons who arefiguring in the above table. In respect of the other persons, theentries are alleged to have been recorded due to illiteracy andignorance. In all there are 23 entries. Except above persons, inrespect of the remaining record, neither relationship is disputednor are the contrary entries. Pertinently, the entries from 1965to 1979 is older record than the record pressed into service bythe petitioner. The consistent contrary entries which are dulyverified during the vigilance inquiry have rightly been taken intoaccount by the Committee.7.The school record of petitioner’s grandfather Pitambarwhich is of 1955 referred to by the petitioner was neitherproduced before the Committee nor was it produced in thematter of earlier validity holder – Umakant. It has not beenverified earlier. Therefore, we cannot for the first time considerit.8.The reliance is placed on old school record of Bajirao ofFasli 1356. It was produced by earlier validity holder – Umakant,in his matter also. It is Urdu document of Gulbarga Court,disclosing Bajirao as observing accused and his caste wasmentioned to be Koli Mahadev. It was referred for theverification to the concerned Court and reply was solicited. It 6 946.WP-7513-2024.doc was reported by the Court Keeper that Fasli record wasdestroyed due to orders of District Court at Gulbarga dated27.02.1999. Thus there was no remark endorsing thegenuineness of the record.9.In the present matter, the statement of the petitioner’sfather was recorded on 05.05.2022. It was stated that thedeponent was not aware of any police case in which Bajirao wasarrested. The document was procured from one Nazeer Shaikhwho was stamp vendor and he used to prepare the documentand as per his say, the document was produced. If this is thecandid admission coming from petitioner’s father, then we haveno hesitation to conclude that the document is false and bogusand this aspect is rightly dealt with by the Committee in theimpugned judgment.10.Petitioner relied on validity of her brother – Umakant whowas banking on validities issued to Kulbhushan and Anil, whowere maternal side relatives. The old record of Gulbarga Court inthe matter of Bajirao is found to be false and bogus. Exceptschool record of Umakant, present petitioner and their brother –Mahesh which is of recent origin, there is no convincing material.In the matter of Umakant, no in depth verification wasconducted. We are of the considered view that he was not issuedwith validity certificate after following due process of law, ascontemplated by law laid down by the Supreme Court in the
Decision
7 946.WP-7513-2024.doc matter of Maharashtra Adiwasi Thakur Jamat Swarakshan Samiti(supra). We endorse this finding more particularly whenincompatible old entries were discovered in the present matter.11.It is relevant to notice that the petitioner failed to getthrough the affinity test. There is no convincible circumstance ormaterial to corroborate petitioner’s claim. We, therefore, findthat no error, perversity or illegality has been committed by theScrutiny Committee in passing impugned judgment and order.We find no substance in the petition. Hence we pass followingorder :ORDERa.The writ petition is dismissed. SHAILESH P. BRAHME MANGESH S. PATIL JUDGE JUDGENajeeb..