MANASI VASANT LAVHARE Vs. STATE OF MAHARASHTRA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Rule. Returnable forthwith.

(2.) The Petitioner, Manasi, claims to belong to the "Koli Mahadev" scheduled tribe. She is aggrieved by an order passed on 4/5/2023 by the 2nd Respondent, the Scheduled Tribe Certificate Scrutiny Committee, Nashik Division, invalidating her scheduled tribe certificate.

(3.) We have considered the impugned order. In our view it cannot be sustained for one simple reason. Before the Committee, Manasi produced or relied on as many as eight validity certificates of her relatives including her cousins, her male second cousins, another male first cousin and her father. These certificates were issued by this very Committee between the period 1995 and 2022. All of them uphold the validity of these persons as belonging to the "Mahadev Koli" scheduled tribe. Yet, without any notice to these persons and on the basis of what are apparently claims of contra entries in school certificates and other registers, the Committee has purported to invalidate even long settled validity certificates issued by this very Committee on the ground that there is a suppression of facts.