CHAITANYA Vs. STATE OF MAHARASHTRA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Rule. Rule made returnable forthwith. With consent of the parties, heard finally at the stage of admission.

(2.) The petitioner impugns the order dtd. 4/10/2019 passed by the Scheduled Tribe Certificate Scrutiny Committee, Aurangabad, thereby invalidating the tribe claim of the petitioner for "Thakur" Scheduled Tribe. The contention of the petitioner is that the Competent Authority issued a caste certificate dtd. 15/9/2015 certifying him to be belonging to "Thakur" scheduled tribe. The petitioner got admission to B. Pharm Course with Rajesh Bhaiyya Tope College of B. Pharmacy, in the year 2016-17 from scheduled tribe category. He submitted an undertaking to submit the caste validity. The tribe claim of the petitioner was forwarded to udgment respondent No. 2 Committee for verification along with documentary evidence, which contains School record of the petitioner, School record of the petitioner's father, School record of the petitioner's grand-father, School record of the petitioner's cousin grand-father and the certificate of validity issued in favour of the real paternal uncle i.e. Ajai Adhar Deore dtd. 7/10/2005. Affidavit in Nanuma No.-F showing genealogy of the family also tendered. The vigilance Officer conducted an inquiry and submitted his report to the Committee dtd. 8/5/2019. On service of such report on the petitioner he filed reply dtd. 5/6/2019 before the Committee. However, the Committee invalidated the tribe claim of the petitioner vide the impugned order observing that the petitioner failed to support his claim by documentary evidence and during affinity test towards the "Thakur" community. It is further observed that the place of residence of the petitioner is beyond the tribe area.

(3.) Mr. Yeramwar, learned Advocate appearing for the petitioner would submit that the Committee failed to appreciate the evidence on record in its proper perspective and wrongly relied upon the observations in the vigilance report. He would submit that the area restriction or affinity test has been wrongly considered as a basis for rejection of the caste claim, contrary to the law laid down by this Court, in Prakash Shrawan Deore Vs. Tribe Certificate Scrutiny Committee, Nashik and Another, Writ Petition No. 2363 of 2013 decided on 22/2/2019.