SHAMAL SURYAKANT KAMALE Vs. STATE OF MAHARASHTRA THROUGH SECRETARY, TRIBAL DEVELOPMENT DEPARTMENT MANTRALAYA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Rule. Rule made returnable forthwith.

(2.) The petitioner, claiming to be belonging to Koli Mahadev Tribe which is notified as Scheduled Tribe by the Constitution (Scheduled Tribe) Order, 1950 has approached this Court praying for quashing and setting aside of an order dated 30-07-2018 passed by the Scheduled Tribe Certificate Scrutiny Committee, Pune Division thereby invalidating her claim as belonging to the said Tribe and confiscating the Caste Certificate issued in her favour. The petitioner has sought direction to the respondentcommittee to issue certificate of validity in her favour as belonging to Koli Mahadev, a Scheduled Tribe. The urgency expressed by the petitioner to proceed with the petition is her aspiration to secure admission in medicine. The petitioner had submitted her claim to the committee through the junior college in which she was admitted and she had geared herself for seeking a seat in the Health Science Course and accordingly took the requisite steps but at the same time she was also dependent on her claim of belonging to Scheduled Tribe so as to gain access in the said medical course. The committee has passed the impugned order on 30.07.2018 and the petitioner has approached this Court by filing the present Writ Petition on 01.08.2018. The said Writ Petition was mentioned before us on 01.08.2018 and we directed production of matter on 02.08.2018 at 11.00 a.m. We also directed the learned AGP to keep the records ready, in view of the urgency expressed by the petitioner and since we were satisfied about the same.

(3.) The learned counsel for the petitioner Shri.Mendadkar would take us through the impugned order passed by the Scrutiny Committee and he would submit that the petitioner has produced as much as 12 certificates of validity granted to her blood relatives from paternal side. The petitioner had also placed on record preconstitutional documents to demonstrate that the ancestor of the petitioner is belonging to Koli Mahadev Tribe and the entries which were recorded clearly establish the said fact. Shri.Mendadkar would submit that in utter ignorance of the said documents produced on record clearly leading to an irresistible conclusion that the petitioner belong to Koli Mahadev, her claim has been rejected without application of mind by the committee. Shri.Mendadkar would submit that in the earlier round of litigation before this Honourable Court, in form of Writ Petition No.6384 of 2018, this very Division Bench was pleased to entertain the petition filed by the petitioner, assailing the order of the Caste Scrutiny Committee dated 08.09.2018 thereby rejecting the claim of the petitioner. Shri.Mendadakar would invite our attention to the earlier order passed by us when it was noted that though the committee had expressed doubt about the claim of the predecessor in title of Vishweshwar Namdeo Kamale and had observed that as far as Namdeo Kamale is concerned when the school record reveals his date of birth is 1.6.1947, however the date of entry in the school is shown as 1953, then this Court had observed that the ordinary practice is that no student is enrolled on his date of birth and/or therefore there is no question of mentioning anything in relation to the Caste and Tribe entry in the school record on the date of his birth and such entries are made only at the time of the seeking admission in the school. It was therefore held that it was inconceivable that was a pre constitutional document since that record was prepared in the year 1953. As far as the reasons assigned by the committee to discard validity certificate of the relatives of the petitioner, and a specific reliance placed on an entry in school leaving certificate of Shri.Mahadeo Pirappa Kamale, it is observed by this Court that Mahadeo is a grand father of the petitioner and father of the Suryakant Kamale and he has entered the school in 1947, being born on 1.12.1940 and in the caste column the entry is reflected as Hindu Mahadev Koli. Shri.Mendadkar would submit that his argument that there is no overwriting or cancellation or erasures in this document and that it is genuine document and pre constitutional entry came to be accepted by the Court and this Court was satisfied that the committee did not cite the proper reason as to why the said document was discarded and remanded the matter back to the committee for an examination afresh and the committee was directed to take into consideration the evidence adduced by the petitioner including the school leaving certificate of the petitioner's grand father.