SHUBHAM SANOTSH CHAVAN Vs. STATE OF MAHARASHTRA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The correctness of order of caste certificate scrutiny committee, Pune invalidating the Tribe claim of the Petitioner is questioned in this Writ Petition. The Caste Certificate Scrutiny Committee, Pune, vide order dtd. 20/4/2022, has invalidated the Tribe claim of the petitioner of belonging to "Thakar", Scheduled Tribe. The petitioner, who belongs to "Thakar" Scheduled Tribe (notified at Serial no. 44 in the Scheduled Tribe Order), was issued a caste certificate by the Sub-Divisional Officer, DaundPurandar, on 25/4/2017. While pursuing his secondary and higher secondary education, his tribe claim was referred to Respondent No.2Scrutiny Committee on 30/9/2018, along with the necessary documents.

(2.) The petitioner produced several documents in support of his claim, including the caste validity certificate issued in favour of his cousin uncle, Vishwas Hiraman Chavan, dated 29 th September 1992. The case was referred to the Vigilance Cell for the domestic inquiry. After receiving the Vigilance Cell report on 27 th December 2018, a re-inquiry was conducted, to scrutinize and verify the petitioner's caste claim. Upon consideration of the enquiry report, Respondent No.2Committee, after hearing the matter on 16 th December 2021, passed the impugned order invalidating the tribe claim of the petitioner on 24/4/2022.

(3.) Mrs. Bhagyashri Mangle, the learned advocate for the petitioner submits that the invalidation order passed by the Committee is unsustainable, particularly in view of the fact that the real brother of the petitioner, Omkar Santosh Chavan, has been granted validity by this Court vide order dtd. 25/1/2021 in Writ Petition No.23349 of 2019 (Coram: S.C. Gupte and Surendra Tawade, JJ.). This Court, in the above said order, after considering several entries in the birth extracts, the school records and the findings recorded by the Committee, regarding cultural affinity test, and the validity certificate issued in favour of the petitioner's uncle, namely, Vishwas Chavan has made categorical observation that at least three pre-constitutional documents, including those relating to the petitioner's grandfather, Vithal Pitambar Chavan, described him as. "Hindu Thakar".