GAJANAN VASUDEVRAO LADE Vs. STATE OF MAHARASHTRA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Rule. Rule made returnable forthwith and heard finally with the consent of both the sides.

(2.) The Petitioner by taking recourse to the remedy under Article 226 of the Constitution of India for exercise of extraordinary jurisdiction of this Court, has preferred the present Writ Petition agitating the validity and propriety of the impugned order passed by the Scheduled Tribe Certificate Scrutiny Committee, Nashik Division, Nashik dated 06.06.2015 thereby cancelling and confiscating the Caste Certificate issued in favour of Petitioner by Special Land Acquisition Officer, Scarcity No.1, Nashik bearing Sr. No. MAG/WS/341/2004 dated 04.12004.

(3.) According to Petitioner, he is belonging to the "Thakur Tribe" which is recognized as Scheduled Tribe under the Constitution (Scheduled Tribe) Order, 1950. The concerned Revenue Authority issued the Caste Certificate to that effect in favour of Petitioner on 04.12.2004. It has been contended that the Petitioner was intending to contest the election of local authority from the ward kept reserved for candidate belonging to Scheduled Tribe. Therefore, Petitioner referred his Caste Certificate issued by the Revenue Authority for verification to the Scheduled Tribe Certificate Scrutiny Committee, Nashik. He has also forwarded relevant documents to the Caste Scrutiny Committee in support of his claim. The concerned Scrutiny Committee examined the claim of the Petitioner in the light of documents appended with the Caste Claim. After due verification, the concerned Caste Scrutiny Committee arrived at the conclusion that the claim of Petitioner towards "Thakur Scheduled Tribe" is not sustainable and approvable one. Therefore, the Scrutiny Committee given the directions to cancel and confiscate the Caste Certificate issued in favour of Petitioner. In sequel, the Caste Scrutiny Committee, Nashik passed the impugned order dated 06.06.2015 which is the subject matter of present Writ Petition.