ABHIMANYU DATTU THAKAR Vs. STATE OF MAHARASHTRA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Rule. Rule returnable forthwith. Heard finally by consent of the parties.

(2.) The present Writ Petition is one amongst several Writ Petitions where the Scrutiny Committee constituted to verify the tribe claim, has invalidated the claim in utter ignorance of the settled position of law and we may say in defiance of the directions issued by the Apex court as well as this Court in the petitions relating to Thakar, a Scheduled Tribe recognized under the Scheduled Tribe Order, 1950.

(3.) The petitioner who was issued a caste certificate on 22nd June 1981 came to be appointed as a peon in the office of respondent No.3, Executive Engineer, Maharashtra Electricity Distribution Co. Ltd, District Sindhudurg. On appointment of the petitioner on reserved post for Scheduled Tribe category, his caste certificate came to be forwarded to the Respondent No.2 Committee for verification. The petitioner staked his claim before the Committee by producing several documents. The claim of the petitioner was made over to the Vigilance Cell which examined the documents produced by the petitioner and confirmed the genuineness of the documents produced by him. During the course of inquiry, the Vigilance Cell Report brought on record a caste entry in respect of cousin grand father of the petitioner i.e. Ganu Kusha Thakar and it recorded the statement of the cousin uncle of the petitioner as regards the traits, characteristics, traditions and customs of the people belonging to the said tribe. The petitioner was supplied with the copy of the Vigilance Cell Report and and was also afforded an opportunity to deal with the same. The petitioner filed his response and was called for hearing before the Committee on 12th February 2013.