Sambhajinagar (Aurangabad),Through its Member Secretary... RespondentsMr. Pratap v. Jadhavar
Legal Reasoning
wp10550-25 IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT BOMBAY BENCH AT AURANGABADWRIT PETITION NO. 10550 OF 20251.Gayatri d/o Nandlal GavaleAge 21 years, Occu: Education,R/o Halda, Tq. Sillod District Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar...Petitioners2.Divya d/o Nandlal Gavale,Age 17 yeas, Occu: Education,Since minor, through her guardian mother-Ushabai w/o Nandlal Gavale, Age 40 years, Occu: HouseholdR/o As above.VERSUS1.The State of Maharashtra,Through its SecretaryTribal Development Department,Mantralaya, Mumbai 322.Scheduled Tribe Certificate Scrutiny Committee, Chhattrapati Sambhajinagar (Aurangabad),Through its Member Secretary... RespondentsMr. Pratap V. Jadhavar, Advocate for the petitioners,Mr. R. D. Raut, Advocate for Respondents StateCORAM: MANISH PITALE & Y. G. KHOBRAGADE, JJ.DATE:3rd September, 2025ORDER (Per: Y. G. Khobragade, J.) 1.By the present petition under Article 226 of the Constitutionof India, the Petitioners, who are siblings, take exception to the orderPage 1 of 7
Legal Reasoning
wp10550-25dated 08.08.2025 passed by Respondent No.2 Scrutiny Committee,thereby invalidating their "Koli Malhar" Schedule Tribe Certificates.2.Issue notice to the respondents. Learned AGP waives notice onbehalf of the respondents.3.The petitioners are the students and they are intending tosecure admission to the professional courses from the seat reserved forthe Scheduled Tribe Category. Therefore, considering the urgencyshown, the petition is taken up for disposal at the stage of admission. 4.The petitioners claim that they belong to "Koli Malhar"Scheduled Tribe. Their individual proposals were forwarded toRespondent No.2 Scrutiny Committee for validation of their tribecertificates. The petitioners have submitted various documents,including validity certificates of blood relatives, school entries etc. insupport of their claims. However, by a common order dated08.08.2025, the claims of the petitioners of belonging to "Koli Malhar"Scheduled Tribe are rejected by the Committee.5.Having regard to the submissions canvassed on behalf of boththe sides, we have gone through the record. 6.As per the genealogical tree, Sandu Dhondu Gavale,forefather of the petitioners, had four sons namely Sampat, Harsing,Ananda and Ukhardu. Govinda is the son of Sampat Sandu Gavale.Page 2 of 7 wp10550-25Ratilal is son of Govinda Sampat Gavale. Prakash (Validity holder) isthe son of Ratilal Govinda Gavale. Baburao, Samsher, Vaman andVitthal are the sons of Harsing Sandu Gavale. Nandlal, father of thepetitioners, is the son of Samsher Harsing Gavale. Subham andMansavi(validity holders ) are the children of Vaman. Harichand(validity holder) is the son of Ananda Sandu Gavale. Pradip (validityholder) is the son of Harichand Ananda Gavale.7.On face of record, it appears that on 23.10.2007, theRespondent- Scrutiny Committee had granted validity certificate ofbelonging to "Koli Malhar" Scheduled tribe in favour of HarichandGavali, cousin grandfather of the petitioners. Further, on 04.06.2010,the Respondent Scrutiny Committee had granted validity certificateof belonging to "Koli Malhar" Scheduled tribe in favour of PrakashRatilal Gavle, cousin brother of the petitioners. On 03.03.2025, thiscourt passed order in Writ Petition Nos. 14234 of 2021 and 14251 of2021 and granted conditional validity of belonging to Koli MalharScheduled Tribe in favour of Manasvi Vaman Gavle and SubhamVaman Gavle, cousin aunt and uncle of the petitioners. On27.11.2024, this Court passed order in Writ Petition No. 13844 of2021 and granted conditional validity in favour of PradipHarichandra Gavali, cousin uncle of the petitioners. It furtherPage 3 of 7 wp10550-25appears that the committee had also issued validity certificates infavour of Prabhu Bhika Gavale, Chandrakant Avachit Gavale,paternal blood relatives of the petitioners,8.Respondent No.2 passed the impugned order andinvalidated the scheduled tribe claim of the petitioners on thegrounds that the petitioner failed to prove the affinity and that thepaternal blood relatives of the petitioners obtained validitycertificates on the basis of false documents and concealment oforiginal record and therefore, notice for revocation of validitycertificates was issued to Hari Ananda Gavali, Prakash RatilalGavale, Prabhu Bhika Gavale and Chandrakant Avachit Gavale,paternal blood relatives of the petitioners. However, as on today, thevalidity certificates of Koli Malhar Scheduled Tribe issued in favour ofblood relatives of the petitioners are still in operation. Admittedly, thevalidity holders are the blood relatives of the petitioner and thecommittee has not denied the same. 9.In cases of Mah. Adiwasi Thakur Jamat Swarakshan SamitiVs. State of Maharashtra & Ors.; AIR 2023 S.C. 1657, Shweta BalajiIsankar V/s. State of Maharashtra & Ors., 2018 SCC Online Bom.10341,Apoorva Vinay Nichale-Vs- Divisional Caste Certificate ScrutinyCommittee No. 1 and Ors., [2010 (6) Mh. L. J. 401, it has beenPage 4 of 7 wp10550-25concluded that when the biological father, biological siblings, biologicaluncle etc., are granted validity certificates, a candidate so related tothem, cannot be deprived of a validity certificate. Therefore,considering parity with the blood relatives of the petitioners, thepetitioners are entitled to have conditional validity subject to outcomeof the decision in the proceedings in respect of the blood relatives of thepetitioners, which the committee has decided to reopen.10.Learned counsel for the petitioners voluntarily submittedthat blood relatives of the petitioners to whom the notice forrevocation of validity has been served shall forthwith execute anundertaking before the Respondent No.2 Committee that they wouldregularly appear in the matter and shall cooperate with theCommittee for early decision in the said matter.11.The Petitioners appear to be the aspiring students for theprofessional courses. Therefore, they are called upon to furnishundertaking that, in case, their tribe certificates are invalidated bythe Scrutiny Committee, in that event they shall pay the tuition feesand admission fees applicable to the candidates from open categoryand no equity shall lie in their favour. Page 5 of 7
Decision
wp10550-2512.In view of above discussion, the present Petition deserves tobe allowed partly and the impugned order dated 08.08.2025 passedby Respondent No.2 Scrutiny Committee needs to be quashed and setaside. Accordingly, we proceed to pass the following order:-O R D E Ri)The Writ Petition is partly allowed.ii)Impugned order dated on 08.08.2025, passed by RespondentNo.2 Scrutiny Committee is hereby quashed and set aside.iii)Respondent No.2 Scrutiny Committee shall immediately issue“Koli Malhar” Scheduled Tribe Validity certificates in favour of thePetitioners, which shall be subject to following conditions:-(a)The caste validity certificates shall be subject to the outcome ofthe re-verification of the validity certificates of their bloodrelatives proposed by the Scrutiny Committee.(b)The Petitioners shall furnish undertaking before the Registrar(Judicial) of this Court as well as before the Scrutiny Committeeand the Educational Institutions with whom they will takeadmissions for professional courses, indicating that in case theircaste validity is revoked, they would deposit the tuition fees andother charges applicable to the candidates from open category. (c) The Petitioners shall not claim any equity.(d)The Petitioners shall cooperate with the Scrutiny Committee.Page 6 of 7 wp10550-25iv) S/Shri Hari Ananda Gavali, Prakash Ratilal Gavale, PrabhuBhika Gavale and Chandrakant Avachit Gavale, Santosh MadhavraoBoine, paternal blood relatives of the Petitioners, who are servedwith notice of revocation of validity, shall furnish undertaking beforethe Scrutiny Committee, stating that they will cooperate and appearbefore the Scrutiny Committee as and when called upon.( Y. G. KHOBRAGADE, J. ) ( MANISH PITALE, J. )JPChavan Page 7 of 7