High Court
Legal Reasoning
wp10343-25 IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT BOMBAY BENCH AT AURANGABADWRIT PETITION NO. 10343 OF 2025Saraswati d/o Baliram PutwadAge: Minor Occu: EducationThrough father and natural guardian -Baliram s/o Bhagwanta PutwadAge 48 years, Occu: Service R/o Plot No.19-20, Hariom Niwas, Nitumalanagar, Wadi Bk NandedTq. and Dist. Nanded...PetitionerVERSUS1.The State of Maharashtra,Through its SecretaryTribal Development Department,Mantralaya, Mumbai 322.Scheduled Tribe Certificate Scrutiny Committee, Kinwat Division,Aurangabad (Chh. Sambhajinagar)Through its Deputy Director (R)... Respondents3. The Sub Divisional Officer, Bhokar, Dist. NandedMr. Sunil M. Vibhute, Advocate for the petitioner,Mr. R. K. Ingole, AGP for the Respondents StateCORAM: MANISH PITALE & Y. G. KHOBRAGADE, JJ.DATE:22.08.2025ORDER (Per: Y. G. Khobragade, J.) 1.The challenge in the present Petition is to the order dated14.08.2025, passed by Respondent No.2 Scrutiny Committee,Page 1 of 6 wp10343-25invalidating “Koli Mahadev” Scheduled Tribe Certificate of thePetitioner.2.Issue notice to the respondents. Learned AGP waives noticefor both the respondents.3.The petitioner is a student and requires validity for educationpurpose. The petitioner is intending to secure admission to professionalcourse from the seat reserved for the Scheduled Tribe Category.Therefore, considering the urgency shown, the petition is taken up fordisposal at the stage of admission. 4.Heard both sides at length.5.As per the genealogical tree, Sitaram Santuka Putwad had oneson, Maroti. Bhagwanta is son of Maroti. Madhav, Bhanudas, Baliramand Ankush are sons of Bhagwanta. Ramkisan and Sarswati (PresentPetitioner) are children of Baliram. Maroti and Rutuja are children ofMadhav. Aditya and Bhakti are children of Bhanudas. Omkar andGayatri are children of Ankush. On face of record, it appears that, on01.02.2005 and 20.09.2005, Respondent No. 2 Scrutiny Committeegranted “Koli Mahadev” Scheduled Tribe Validity Certificate in favour ofBhaudas Bhagwanta Putwad and Ankush Bhagwanta Putwad, realuncles of the present petitioner. On 29.12.2008, Respondent no. 2Scrutiny Committee granted “Koli Mahadev” Scheduled Tribe ValidityPage 2 of 6 wp10343-25Certificate in favour of Baliram Bhagwanta Putwad, the father of thepresent petitioner. 6.On perusal of record, it further appears that on 01.08.2023this court passed an order in Writ Petition No. 12072 of 2021(AdityaBhanudas Putwad and another V/s State of Maharashtra) and directedRespondent No. 2, Scrutiny Committee to issue conditional validity ofbelonging to “Koli Mahadev” Scheduled Tribe Certificate. Further, on21.08.2024, this court passed an order in Writ Petition No. 8628 of2024(Bhakti Bhanudas Putwad V/s State of Maharashtra ) and directedRespondent No. 2 to issue conditional validity of “Koli Mahadev”Scheduled Tribe Certificate. The petitioners in both these petitions arepaternal blood relatives of the present petitioner. The said fact is notdenied by the Respondent No. 2 Committee.7.Needless to say that, on 10.04.2023 Respondent no. 2 passedan order in cases of father and real uncles of petitioner and revoked“Mannervarlu” Scheduled Tribe Validity Certificate. Therefore, thefather and uncle of the petitioner filed writ petitions before this courti.e. Writ Petition No. 6668 of 2023, (Bhanudas Bhagwanta Putwad V/sState of Maharashtra), Writ Petition No. 6672 of 2023( BaliramBhagwanta Putwad and others V/s State of Maharashtra) and WritPetition No. 6674 of 2023(Madhav Bhagwanta Putwad V/s State ofPage 3 of 6
Legal Reasoning
wp10343-25Maharashtra). On 20.06.2023 this court issued notice and granted stayto the order dated 10.04.2023 passed by the Respondent No. 2.However, as on today, the said Writ petitions are pending for finaldecision. Therefore, as on today the parental blood relatives of thepetitioner are holding the Validity Certificate and not yet revoked.7.As on today, the validity certificates of Koli MahadevScheduled Tribe issued in favour of the blood relatives of the petitionerare still in operation. Since the paternal blood relatives of thePetitioner, including her real father and real uncles are having “KoliMahadev” Scheduled Tribe validity certificates, considering the parity,the Petitioner is also entitled to have “Koli Mahadev” Scheduled Tribevalidity certificate. However, such validity shall be subject to theoutcome of the decision in the proceeding in respect of blood relativesof the Petitioner, which the Respondent No.2 decided to re-open. 8.Learned counsel for the petitioner voluntarily submitted thatblood relatives of the petitioner to whom the notice for revocation ofvalidity has been served shall execute an undertaking before theRespondent No.2 Committee that they would regularly appear in thematter and shall cooperate with the Committee for early decision in thesaid matter.Page 4 of 6 wp10343-259.Considering the law laid down in the cases of Mah. AdiwasiThakur Jamat Swarakshan Samiti Vs. State of Maharashtra & Ors.; AIR2023 SC 1657, Shweta Balaji Isankar Vs. State of Maharashtra & Ors.,2018 SCC Online Bom. 10341, Apoorva Vinay Nichale Vs. DivisionalCaste Certificate Scrutiny Committee No.1 and Ors., 2010(6) Mh.L.J.401, wherein it has been concluded that when the biological father,biological siblings, biological uncle etc., are granted validity certificates,a candidate so related to them, cannot be deprived of a validitycertificate, the present Petitioner is entitled to have the certificate ofvalidity.10.The Petitioner appears to be the aspiring student for theprofessional course. Therefore, she is called upon to furnishundertaking that, in case, her caste validity certificate is invalidated bythe Scrutiny Committee, in that event she shall pay the tuition fees andadmission fees applicable to the candidates from open category and noequity shall lie in her favour. 11. In view of above discussion, the present Petition deserves tobe allowed partly and the impugned order dated 14.08.2025, passed byRespondent No.2 Scrutiny Committee needs to be quashed and setaside. Accordingly, we proceed to pass the following order:-O R D E RPage 5 of 6
Decision
wp10343-25(i)The Writ Petition is partly allowed.(ii)The impugned order dated 14.08.2025, passed by RespondentNo.2 Scrutiny Committee is hereby quashed and set aside.(iii)Respondent No.2 Scrutiny Committee shall immediately issue“Koli Mahadev” Scheduled Tribe validity certificate in favour of thePetitioner, which shall be subject to following conditions:-(a)The caste validity certificate shall be subject to the outcome of there-verification of the validity certificates of her blood relativesproposed by the Scrutiny Committee and it shall also be subjectto the result of Writ Petition No. 6668 of 2024, Writ Petition No.6672 of 2024 and Writ Petition No. 6674 of 2024.(b)The Petitioner shall furnish undertaking before the Registrar(Judicial) of this Court as well as before the Scrutiny Committeeand the Educational Institution with whom she will take admissionfor professional course, indicating that in case her caste validity isrevoked, she would deposit the tuition fees and other chargesapplicable to the candidates from open category. (c) The Petitioner shall not claim any equity.(d)The Petitioner shall cooperate with the Scrutiny Committee.( Y. G. KHOBRAGADE, J. ) ( MANISH PITALE, J. )JPChavan Page 6 of 6