RAIWAD MANOJKUMAR NIVRUTTIRAO Vs. STATE OF MAHARASHTRA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This is an appeal against the order dated 05.082003 of the Bombay High Court in Writ Petition No. 2146 of 2003.

(2.) The facts very briefly are that on 07.06.1990 the Tehsildar and Executive Magistrate issued a caste certificate to the Appellant certifying that he belongs to Koli Mahadeo, which was recognized as a Scheduled Tribe in the State of Maharashtra. On 28.02.1992, the Appellant was selected and appointed to a vacancy of Clerk Grade-II in the National Bank of Agricultural and Rural Development (NABARD) in a vacancy reserved for Scheduled Tribe. The General Manager of NABARD referred the claim of the Appellant as Scheduled Tribe for verification and scrutiny. The Vigilance Cell submitted its report on 19.09.2000. The Scrutiny Committee then called the Appellant for interview and when the Appellant did not appear on several dates fixed for the interview, it finally submitted its order on 27.01.2003 that the Appellant did not belong to Koli Mahadeo, Scheduled Tribe.

(3.) Aggrieved by the findings of the Caste Scrutiny Committee, the Appellant filed Writ Petition No. 2146 of 2003 in the High Court challenging the order of the Caste Scrutiny Committee. By the impugned order dated 05.08.2003, the High Court dismissed the Writ Petition. In the impugned order, the High Court held that the Caste Scrutiny Committee had found from the documents on record that the father of the Appellant belonged to caste Koli and Koli and Koli Mahadeo are different tribes as has been decided by this Court in Kumari Madhuri Patil and Anr. v. Additional Commissioner, Tribal Development and Ors., AIR 1995 SC 94. The High Court also found that despite several notices issued to the Appellant, he did not appear before the Caste Scrutiny Committee to attend the hearing and that the Appellant had failed to discharge the burden to prove by producing cogent and reliable evidence that he belonged to the Koli Mahadeo tribe and not to Koli tribe.