SAURABH ASHOK JADHAV Vs. STATE OF MAHARASHTRA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Rule. Rule made returnable forthwith.

(2.) By this petition filed under Article 226 of Constitution of India, the petitioners have prayed for Writ in the nature of Certiorari, for quashing and setting aside the order dated 30-05-2018 passed by the Scheduled Tribe Certificate Scrutiny Committee, Nashik thereby rejecting the claim of the petitioners as belonging to Mahadev Koli, as Scheduled Tribe. Direction is also sought to the committee to issue certificate of validity, thereby validating the Caste Certificate dated 16-07-2015 issued in favour of the petitioners and declare them to be belonging to Koli Mahadev, Scheduled Tribe.

(3.) The petition is filed by two petitioners who are brothers and claim to be belonging to Koli Mahadev, Scheduled Tribe. The petitioners have been granted caste certificates in the prescribed form on 16-07-2015 by the Sub Divisional Officer, Malegaon declaring them to be belonging to Koli Mahadev, which is recognized as Scheduled Tribe under the Constitution (Scheduled Tribes) Order, 1950. Being desirous of persuading their higher education from the reserved category of Scheduled Tribe, the petitioners approached the respondent No.2Committee for verification of the certificates of Scheduled Tribe and laid their claim before the said committee, by tendering documentary evidence. The documentary evidence included the validity certificate in favour of their father by the Nashik Committee in the year 2008 and cousin brothers from the paternal side as well as maternal side. The claim of the petitioner was taken up for scrutiny and by an order dated 30.05.2018 the claim came to be rejected on the ground that the petitioner's have not been able to prove their claim of belonging to Koli Mahadev, Scheduled Tribe by documentary evidence and also they were not successful in establishing their claim on the parameters of affinity test and did not establish ethnic linkage towards "Koli Mahadev Scheduled Tribe" appearing at entry 29 in the list of Scheduled Tribes in Maharashtra. Resultantly, the claim of both the petitioner's were found to be unsustainable and declared invalid and the caste certificates issued in their favour came to be cancelled and confiscated.