Bombay High Court
Sagar S/O Madhav Suryawanshi vs Committee For Scrutiny And ... on 22 July, 2019
Author: Vinay Joshi
Bench: R.K. Deshpande, Vinay Joshi
Judgment wp1674.15
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IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT BOMBAY
NAGPUR BENCH, NAGPUR.
WRIT PETITION No. 1674 OF 2015.
Sagar s/o Madhav Suryawanshi,
Age about 18 years, resident of
Santosh Nagar, Murtizapur,
District Akola. ... PETITIONER.
VERSUS
1.Committee for Scrutiny and Verification
of Tribe Claims, Amravati Division
Amravati, through its Member/Secretary.
2.Commissioner & Competent Authority,
State CET, Maharashtra State, Mumbai,
Office at CET Cell (DMER) Opposite
to Govt. Dental College, St. Georges Hospital
Campus, Fort, Mumbai 400001.
3.The Director, College of Physician
and Surgeon, Mumbai, Office at
CPS House, Dr. E. Borges Road,
Patel, Mumbai.
4.The Director General of Health
Services and Ministry of Health and
Family Welfare, Govt. of India
Nirman Bhavan, Maulana Azad
Road, New Delhi.
5.The Director of National Board
of Examination, Medical Enclave
Ansari Nagar, Ring Road,
New Delhi. ... RESPONDENTS.
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Shri N.R. Saboo, , Advocate for the Petitioner.
Shri N.S. Rao, A.G.P for Respondent No.1.
Ms. N.G. Chaubey, Advocate for Respondent No.4.
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CORAM : R.K. DESHPANDE &
VINAY JOSHI, JJ.
JUDGMENT RESERVED ON : 20.06.2019
JUDGMENT PRONOUNCED ON : 22 .07.2019
JUDGMENT (PER VINAY JOSHI, J.) :
Heard Shri Saboo, learned Counsel for the petitioner, Shri N.S. Rao, learned A.G.P. for respondent No.1 and Ms. Chaubey, learned Counsel for respondent no.4.
2. This petition is filed under Article 226 of the Constitution of India, praying to quash and set aside the order dated 13.06.2013, passed by respondent no.1 Scheduled Tribe Certificate Scrutiny Committee, Amravati Division, Amravati, by which the caste claim of petitioner as belonging to 'Thakur' Scheduled Tribe has been invalidated. The petitioner is also seeking a direction to the Scrutiny Committee to issue caste validity certificate.
3. Petitioner claims to be belonging to 'Thakur' Scheduled ::: Uploaded on - 22/07/2019 ::: Downloaded on - 23/07/2019 04:11:55 ::: Judgment wp1674.15 3 Tribe, which is an entry at Sr.No.44 of the Constitution (Scheduled Tribes) Order, 1950. A caste certificate has been issued to the petitioner by Sub-Divisional Officer, Murtizapur, District Akola, which was forwarded to the respondent Committee for verification and issuance of validity certificate. The petitioner submitted various documents, including pre-constitutional documents in support of his caste claim. The petitioner has also relied on certificates of validity issued in favour of his blood relatives to support his caste claim. Petitioners' caste claim was enquired into by the Police Vigilance Cell. It reveals that second police vigilance cell report was also obtained by the respondent Committee, and on receipt of the said report, the Scrutiny Committee has issued show cause notice to the petitioner and upon obtaining his explanation, expressed its dissatisfaction about genuineness of the caste claim and ultimately by the impugned order, invalidated his caste claim.
4. The Committee while invalidating the caste claim of petitioner has expressed that during second vigilance enquiry, some documents were obtained in respect of relatives of petitioner which shows caste as 'Bhat'. Moreover, it was observed that the original place of residence of petitioner does not fall in the concerned area. The previous validities were rejected by stating that those persons ::: Uploaded on - 22/07/2019 ::: Downloaded on - 23/07/2019 04:11:55 ::: Judgment wp1674.15 4 were not shown in the genealogy, given by the petitioner to the police vigilance cell or they are his distant relatives.
5. The Committee has evaluated in all 24 documents, which were tendered by the petitioner in support of his caste claim. On close perusal of these documents, it reveals that the petitioner has produced some pre-constitutional documents i.e. admission register extract of his grand father issued by the Headmaster, District Amravati dated 22.03.1909, wherein the caste is mentioned as 'Thakur'. He has produced attested copy of school leaving certificate in respect of his paternal grand-father showing date 08.12.1922, showing caste as 'Thakur'. Petitioner has also produced birth extract of Birth and Death Register in respect if grand father issued by the Tahsildar, Anjangaon, wherein date of birth is recorded as 27.10.1942 and caste mentioned therein is 'Thakur'. Lastly, he has produced attested copy of the Birth and Death Register extract in respect of his paternal grand father showing date 09.03.18 and caste mentioned therein is 'Thakur'. Thus, all the above documents shows entry of caste as 'Thakur'.
6. The caste claim is rejected on the premise that two documents were found by the vigilance cell of Waman Bhat and Bhimi Bhat, showing caste as 'Bhat'. However, it is not clarified ::: Uploaded on - 22/07/2019 ::: Downloaded on - 23/07/2019 04:11:55 ::: Judgment wp1674.15 5 whether those are blood relatives of petitioner. Without specifying the relationship of these two persons, it is vaguely stated that they are parental relatives of petitioner. In response to the show cause notice, the petitioner has specifically denied his relationship with Waman Bhat and Bhim Bhat, whose documents are collected. The petitioner is not expected to discharge negative burden to establish that these two persons are not his relative. There has to be material brought on record to establish the relationship of the petitioner with these two persons. The impugned order is silent even on the point of their exact relationship with the petitioner. Therefore, said ground for rejection is improper.
7. It is pertinent to note that initially the vigilance cell has conducted enquiry and submitted its report dated 04.06.2005. The said report indicates that the pre-constitutional documents relating to petitioner's relative namely Bhaskar Keshavrao Suryawanshi, Chabi Keshavrao Suryawanshi and Madhav Keshavrao Suryawanshi, bears entry of 'Thakur' caste. Though, the previous validities have been referred in the report and nothing adverse was found still the matter was sent for conducting re-investigation. The impugned order does not discloses the necessity for reinvestigation, which is an unusual affair. The petitioner has produced two previous ::: Uploaded on - 22/07/2019 ::: Downloaded on - 23/07/2019 04:11:55 ::: Judgment wp1674.15 6 validities of his relatives namely Damodar Narayan Surywanshi and Nivrutti Tukaram Garud. These validities have been ignored and area restriction was also one of the ground for rejection.
8. Petitioner submits that the entry 'Thakur' cannot be read conjointly, as there can be no entry like 'Thakur Scheduled Tribe'. For this purpose he has relied on the judgment in case of Gajanan Pandurang Shende .vrs. Headmaster, Govt. Ashram School and others (2018 (2) Mh.L.J.460). Moreover, in order to support his caste claim, the petitioner has placed reliance upon certain judgments.
9. Reliance is placed on the decision of Division Bench of this Court in case of Apurva Vinay Nichale vrs. Division Caste Certificate Scrutiny Committee and ors, (2010 (6) Mh.L.J.401), wherein it is held that where the caste claim of a blood relative of a candidate is scrutinized and accepted by one Committee and given a finding about validity, then the another Committee cannot refuse the caste claim by taking a different view, except in case of fraud. In case of Jaywant Pawar vrs. State of Maharashtra (2018 (5) All MR 975), it is held that the claim cannot be rejected on the basis of area restriction. In the decision of the Hon'ble Supreme Court in Anand vrs. Committee for Scrutiny and Verification of Tribe ::: Uploaded on - 22/07/2019 ::: Downloaded on - 23/07/2019 04:11:55 ::: Judgment wp1674.15 7 Claims and others, [(2012) 1 SCC 113], it is held that while dealing with the documentary evidence, greater reliance may be placed on pre-independence documents because they furnish a higher degree of probative value to the declaration of status of a caste, as compared to post-independence documents. It adds that in the event of a doubt on the credibility of a document, its veracity has to be tested on the basis of oral evidence, for which an opportunity has to be afforded to the applicant. In respect of affinity test, the Apex Court has laid down that a cautious approach has to be adopted and with the migration, modernization and contact with other communities, these communities tend to develop and adopt new traits which may not essentially match with the traditional characteristics of the tribe. It holds that the affinity test may not be recorded as litmus test for establishing the link of the applicant with the Scheduled Tribe. The affinity test is to be used to corroborate the documentary evidence and it is not to be used as the sole criteria to reject a claim.
10. The petitioners' case is covered by ratio of these decisions. In the result we hold that the petitioner has proved his case of 'Thakur' Scheduled Tribe. In view of that, we set aside the impugned order and pass the following order :
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ORDER
(i) Writ Petition is allowed. Order dated
13.06.2013 passed by the Scheduled Tribe
Caste Certificate Scrutiny Committee, Amravati, is hereby quashed and set aside.
(ii) The claim of the petitioner for
"Thakur - Scheduled Tribe" which is an entry
at Sr. No.44 of the Constitution Scheduled
Tribe Order, 1950 is held to be valid. The
Committee is accordingly directed to issue
forthwith the Caste Validity Certificate in the name of the petitioner.
(iii) Rule is made absolute in aforesaid
terms. No order as to costs.
JUDGE JUDGE
Rgd.
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