High Court
Legal Reasoning
wp10842-25MK IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT BOMBAY BENCH AT AURANGABADWRIT PETITION NO. 10842 OF 20251.Avinash s/o Ramhari GandhaleAge 18 years, Occu: EducationR/o Choramba, Tq. Dharur Dist. BeedThrough father/Power of Attorney-Ramhari s/o Antaram GandhleAge 47 years, Occu: Service...Petitioner2. Amar s/o Ramhari GandhaleAge 22 years, Occu: Education R/o Choramba, Tq. Dharur Dist. BeedThrough father/Power of Attorney-Ramhari s/o Antaram GandhleAge 47 years, Occu: ServiceVERSUS1.The State of Maharashtra,Through its SecretaryTribal Development Department,Mantralaya, Mumbai 322.The Scheduled Tribe Certificate VerificationCommittee,Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar,Through its Deputy Director (R)... RespondentsMr. S. M. Vibhute, Advocate for the petitioner,Mr. S. K.Tambe, AGP for the Respondents StateCORAM: MANISH PITALE & Y. G. KHOBRAGADE, JJ.DATE:4th September, 2025Page 1 of 7
Legal Reasoning
wp10842-25MKORDER (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 orderdated 03.09.2025 passed by Respondent No.2 Scrutiny Committee incase Nos.4/523/Edu/022025/272418 and 4/523/Edu/042025/282671,thereby invalidating their "Koli Mahadev" 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 to KoliMahadev Schedule Tribe and they are intending to secure admission toprofessional course from the seat reserved for the Scheduled TribeCategory. Schedule of admissions has started as CET result is declared.Therefore, considering the urgency shown, the petition is taken up fordisposal 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 datedPage 2 of 7 wp10842-25MK03.09.2025, the claims of the petitioners of belonging to "Koli Mahadev"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, Maruti Hariba Gondhale,forefather of the petitioner had three sons namely Nivrutii, Narsuand Maruti. Antaram Maruti Gandhale, grandfather of thepetitioners, has three sons namely, Ramhari (validity holder andfather of the petitioners), Vikas and Dhanraj (validity holder) Onface of record, it appears that on 21.10.2009, the Respondent-Scrutiny Committee had granted validity certificate of belonging to"Koli Mahadev" Scheduled tribe in favour of Ramhari AntramGandhale, father of the petitioners. Further, on 12.09.2008, theRespondent Scrutiny Committee had granted validity certificate ofbelonging to "Koli Mahadev" Scheduled tribe in favour of DhanrajAntram Gandhale, real uncle of the petitioners.7.In another branch of genealogical tree, Bagwan NarsuGandhale had six sons namely, Sambhudev, Govardhan, Maruti,Laxman, Janardhan and Shankar. Rameshwar (Validity holder) isthe son of Maruti Bhagwan Gandhale. Sominath (validity holder)is the son of Govardhan Bhagwan Gandhale. On 16th December,Page 3 of 7 wp10842-25MK2024, this court passed order in Writ Petition Nos. 2060 of 2022and 2061 of 2022 and granted conditional validity of belonging toKoli Mahadev Scheduled Tribe in favour of Rameshwar MarutiGandhale and Sominath Govardhan Gandhale, cousin brothers of thepetitioners. 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 of KoliMahadev Scheduled Tribe issued in favour of blood relatives of thepetitioners are still in operation. Admittedly, the validity holders arethe blood relatives of the petitioners, including father 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 ScrutinyPage 4 of 7 wp10842-25MKCommittee 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 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
wp10842-25MK12.In view of above discussion, the present Petition deserves tobe allowed partly and the impugned order dated 03.09.2025 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 03.09.2025, 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 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 wp10842-25MKiv) Shri Ramhari Antram Gandhale, father of the petitioners 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