KRISHNA LAXMAN PARATE Vs. STATE OF MAHARASHTRA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Rule. By consent, made returnable forthwith.

(2.) The caste claim of the Petitioner has been invalidated by the Scrutiny Committee, inter alia, on the ground that certain documents as produced pertain to the period after 1950 i.e. after the pronouncement of the Presidential Order. The reasoning as adopted is per se illegal. It was obligatory on the part of the Scrutiny Committee to have dealt with the genuineness of the documents and then to reach to a proper conclusion. The impugned order suffers from the vice of non-application of mind. We, therefore, quash and set aside the impugned order and remit back the matter to the Scrutiny Committee to examine the same according to law, taking into account the documents in question. The Scrutiny Committee shall take a decision in this behalf within a period of three months from today. The petitioner shall appear before the Scrutiny Committee on 24th February, 1998.

(3.) Rule made absolute in the above terms. Certified copy expedited.