High Court
Legal Reasoning
wp10825-25 IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT BOMBAY BENCH AT AURANGABADWRIT PETITION NO. 10825 OF 20251.Shankat Sambhaji KaletwadAge 24 years, Occu: EducationR/o Ambulga (bk) Tq. MukhedDistrict Nanded...Petitioners2. Akshata Sambhaji Kaletwad,Age 28 years, Occu: Education R/o Ambulga (bk) Tq. MukhedDistrict NandedVERSUS1.The State of Maharashtra,Through its SecretaryTribal Development Department,Mantralaya, Mumbai 322.The Scheduled Tribe Certificate VerificationCommittee, KinwatHeadquarter at Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar,Through its Deputy Director (R)... RespondentsMr. Pratap V. Jadhavar, Advocate for the petitioner,Mr. V. M. Kagne, AGP for the Respondents StateCORAM: MANISH PITALE & Y. G. KHOBRAGADE, JJ.DATE:4th 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
wp10825-25dated 02.09.2025 passed by Respondent No.2 Scrutiny Committee,thereby invalidating their "Mannervarlu" 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 require validity foreducation purpose. The petitioners claim that they belong toMannervarlu Schedule Tribe and they are intending to secure admissionto professional course from the seat reserved for the Scheduled TribeCategory. Therefore, considering the urgency shown, the petition istaken up for disposal at the stage of admission. 4.Individual proposals of the petitioners 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 dated02.09.2025, the claims of the petitioners of belonging to "Mannervarlu"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. Page 2 of 7 wp10825-256.As per the genealogical tree, Budhaji alias HanmantuKaletwad, forefather of the petitioners had six sons namely Yalappa,Linga, Rama, sambhaji, Mashnaji(Motha) and Mashnaji (lahan).Sambhaji Budhaji Kaletwad, great grandfather of the petitioners hadtwo sons namely, Ramji and Vitthal. Sheshrao and Sambhaji (fatherof Petitioner No.1) are the sons of Ramji Sambhaji Kaletwad.Samiksha Sambhaji Kaletwad (validity holder) is the real sister ofPetitioner No.1 and cousin sister of Petitioner No.2. Sambhaji andBalaji (validity holder) are the sons of Vitthal Sambhaji Kaletwad.Datta Sambhaji Kaletwad (validity holder) is the real brother ofpetitioner No.2 and cousin brother of petitioner No.1. 7. On the face of record, it appears that on 7th May, 2005,the Respondent- Scrutiny Committee had granted validity certificateof belonging to "Mannervarlu" Scheduled tribe in favour of SheshraoRamji Kaletwad, real uncle of Petitioner No.1 and cousin uncle ofpetitioner No.2. On 17.08.2011, the Respondent Scrutiny Committeehad granted validity certificate of belonging to "Mannervarlu"Scheduled tribe in favour of Samiksha Sambhaji Kaletwad, realsister of Petitioner No.1 and cousin sister of petitioner No.2.Further, on 12.02.2025, this court passed order in Writ Petition No.Page 3 of 7 wp10825-252091 of 2025 and granted validity certificate of belonging to"Mannervarlu" Scheduled tribe in favour of Dattatraya BaliramKaletwad, paternal blood relative of the petitioner from the branch ofLinga. On 28th March, 2025, this Court passed order in WritPetition No. 3459 of 2024 and granted validity certificate ofbelonging to "Mannervarlu" Scheduled tribe in favour of PallaviDattatraya Kaletwad, paternal blood relative of the petitioner fromthe branch of Linga.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 the paternal blood relatives of thepetitioners. However, as on today, the validity certificates ofMannervarlu Scheduled Tribe issued in favour of blood relatives of thepetitioners are still in operation. Admittedly, the validity holders arethe paternal blood relatives of the petitioners and the committee hasnot denied the same. Page 4 of 7 wp10825-259.In cases of Mah. Adiwasi Mannervarlu Jamat SwarakshanSamiti Vs. State of Maharashtra & Ors.; AIR 2023 S.C. 1657, ShwetaBalaji Isankar 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 beenconcluded 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 byPage 5 of 7
Decision
wp10825-25the 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. 12.In view of above discussion, the present Petition deserves tobe allowed partly and the impugned order dated 02.09.2025 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 02.09.2025, passed by RespondentNo.2 Scrutiny Committee is hereby quashed and set aside.iii)Respondent No.2 Scrutiny Committee shall immediately issue“Mannervarlu” 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. Page 6 of 7 wp10825-25(c) The Petitioners shall not claim any equity.(d)The Petitioners shall cooperate with the Scrutiny Committee.iv) Shri Balaji Vitthal Kaletwad, Samiksha Sambhaji Kaletwad andother 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