ISRAR AHMAD MANSURI Vs. STATE OF MADHYA PRADESH

JUDGEMENT

(1.) By this petition under Article 226 of the Constitution the petitioner challenges the order dated 10th March 1981 by which his admission to the Government Mining and Polytechnic, Shahdol, has been cancelled.

(2.) The petitioner got his admission in the Polytechnic on the basis of a declaration that he belonged to a Scheduled Caste and he procured a certificate from the Naib Tahsil-dar dated 2nd July, 1979 in support of his admission. On complaint it was revealed that the petitioner was Bahna and did not belong to any Scheduled Caste or Scheduled Tribe. Tt was for this reason that his admission was cancelled. Notice for admission of this petition was issued to the respondents. Return has been filed. The petition is heard on merits.

(3.) The first question that arises in this petition is whether the petiljoner is really a member of a Scheduled Caste or Scheduled Tribe. The community of Bahna to which the petitioner belongs consists of Muslims who carry on the trade of cotton cleaning. By the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes Order (Amendment) Act, 1956, Bhaina has been added as a Scheduled Tribe for Madhya Pradesh. The petitioner claims that he belongs to this tribe. This claim is entirely unfounded. In Mohd. Shamsher v. The Collector, Balaghat, M. P. No. 775 of 1979, decided on 16th October, 1980, it has been pointed out by a Division Bench of this Court that Bahnas who are cotton cleaners belong to the same category as Pinjara and Dhunia and are different from the Scheduled Tribe of Bhaina. Reference in this connection was made in th;it case to Russel on Tribes and Castes of the Central Provinces (pp. 69 and 225). It is quite clear that the petitioner was by no stretch of imagination a member of a Scheduled Caste, which he claimed for his admission and for which he procured a certificate from a Naib Tahsildar. It is clear from the certificate on the basis of which the petitioner got admission that he practised fraud and fraudulently obtained a certificate on the basis that he was Harijan and got admission in the Polytechnic on that basis.