SACHIN SUBHASH THAKUR Vs. STATE OF MAHARASHTRA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The short ground on which the present Writ Petition filed by the petitioner, assailing the order dated 7th August 2018 passed by the Caste Scrutiny Committee needs to be allowed, is abject perversity and nonapplication of mind on behalf of respondent no.2 Committee.

(2.) The petitioner was granted a caste certificate certifying that he belongs to Thakur Scheduled Tribe. The said certificate was granted to him by the Competent Authority on 28th May 2008. He was desirous of persuading his education and claiming the benefit of being Thakur - a Scheduled Tribe. He approached the respondent no.2 Committee on 17th December 2009 for verification of his claim. In support of his claim, he submitted several documents including the documents of his forefathers, wherein the caste was recorded as Thakur. The petitioner also placed reliance on the caste validity certificate granted to his real cousin brother i.e. Vijay Suresh Thakur by the Caste Scrutiny Commitee, Nashik.

(3.) The claim of the petitioner was taken up for scrutiny by the respondent no.2 Committee and it was forwarded to the Vigilance Cell for conduct of a detail school and home inquiry. The Vigilance Cell submitted its report to the Committee on 30th September 2010 and the petitioner was served with a show cause notice by the Committee on 3rd November 2014 which was replied to by the petitioner. However, since the claim of the petitioner was not decided, the petitioner was constrained to approach this Court by filing a writ petition. This Court issued a direction to the Committee to decide the claim of the petitioner before 8th August 2018 and that is how the Committee called the petitioner on 7th August 2018 for personal hearing and the matter was closed for orders. The Committee passed the impugned order thereby rejecting the claim of the petitioner as belonging to Thakur Scheduled Tribe by an order dated 7th August 2018.