Madhya Pradesh High Court
Vijay Singh Tanwar vs The State Of Madhya Pradesh on 17 July, 2023
Author: Vivek Agarwal
Bench: Vivek Agarwal
1
IN THE HIGH COURT OF MADHYA PRADESH
AT JABALPUR
BEFORE
HON'BLE SHRI JUSTICE VIVEK AGARWAL
ON THE 17 th OF JULY, 2023
WRIT PETITION No. 12936 of 2006
BETWEEN:-
VIJAY SINGH TANWAR S/O SHRI RAM SINGH TANWAR,
AGED ABOUT 34 YEARS, OCCUPATION: NIL, R/O
VILLAGE JAMUNIYA KALAN, POST DHOLPUR, TAH
NASRULLAHGANJ, SEHORE, DISTT. SEHORE (MADHYA
PRADESH)
.....PETITIONER
(BY SHRI ANUJ AGRAWAL - ADVOCATE)
AND
1. THE STATE OF MADHYA PRADESH THROUGH ITS
SECRETARY, TRIBAL WELFARE DEPT. VALLABH
BHAWAN,BHOPAL (MADHYA PRADESH)
2. HIGH POWERED COMMITTEE (CONSTITUTED
PURSUANT TO DIRECTION GIVEN BY THE APEX
COURT IN AIR 1995 SC 94 (ADDITIONAL
COMMISSIONER, TRIBAL WELFARE VS.
MADHURI PATHAK) THROUGH ITS ADDITIONAL
COMMISSIONER.
3. ADIVASI VIKASH EVAM SADASYA SACHIV
ANUSUCHIT JANJATI PARMAN PATRA
CHANBEEN SAMITI M.P. TH. SECRETARY BHOPAL
(MADHYA PRADESH)
4. COLLECTOR DEPARTMENT OF TRIBAL WELFARE
DIST. SEHORE (MADHYA PRADESH)
5. SUB DIVISIONAL OFFICER TAH.
NASRULLAHGANJ DIST. SEHORE (MADHYA
PRADESH)
6. INDIAN OIL CORPORATION LTD. BHOPAL
DIVISIONAL OFFICE, BLOCK 1ST FLOOR, CHETAK
COMPLEX MP.NAGAR ZONE II, DIST. BHOPAL
(MADHYA PRADESH) THROUGH ITS DIVISIONAL
Signature Not Verified
Signed by: TULSA SINGH
Signing time: 7/19/2023
7:30:04 PM
2
MANAGER.
.....RESPONDENTS
(BY SHRI AMIT SHARMA - GOVT. ADVOCATE FOR RESPONDENT-STATE)
(BY SHRI GOURANCH BHURRAK - ADVOCATE FOR RESPONDENT NO.6)
Th is petition coming on for hearing this day, th e court passed the
following:
ORDER
This writ petition is filed by the petitioner being aggrieved of order dated 26/07/2006 (Annexure-P/42) whereby the Commissioner, Tribal Development and Member Secretary, Scheduled Tribe Caste Scrutiny Committee has informed the petitioner that High Level Caste Scrutiny Committee in its meeting dated 19/07/2006 has found that the petitioner does not belong to Schedule Tribe Community but is, in fact, a member of 'Lodha (Other Backward Caste) community which is mentioned at serial No.59 in the Government notification, therefore, obtained a selection as a member of Tribal Community for allotment of a petrol pump dealership for which an advertisement was issued by the Indian Oil Corporation in an inappropriate manner and, thus, recommended for cancellation of his caste certificate.
2. Learned counsel for the petitioner submits that petitioner is a graduate engineer. Drawing attention to the entries made in the book extract of which has been enclosed as Annexure-P/43 titled "Madhya Pradesh Ki Janjatiyan Samaj Avam Vyastha" by Dr. Shiv Kumar Tiwari and Dr. Srikamal Sharma published by Madhya Pradesh Hindi Granth Academy, it is pointed out that Lodha is a Gotra/Totam of Tanwar Community which comes under Kabhar Janjati. Lodha means wild dog and there is a story attached to it that while dogs had hunted a lion, therefore, their Totam (Gotra) is Lodha. It is submitted that since Kawar/Tanvar are one and the same thing and petitioner has enclosed copy of Signature Not Verified Signed by: TULSA SINGH Signing time: 7/19/2023 7:30:04 PM 3 certificate issued in favour of his cousin etc, therefore, a High Level Caste Scrutiny Committee should have considered the material produced by the petitioner and should have treated him to be a member of Schedule Tribe Community.
3. Shri Amit Sharma, learned Govt. Advocate for the respondent/State and Shri Gouranch Bhurrak, learned counsel for respondent No.6, in their turn, submit that report of the committee is factual. In fact, in the gazette notification dated 2nd April, 1997 issued by the Government of Madhya Pradesh, Backward Class and Minority Welfare Department, at Serial No.59 Lodha "Tanwar' is shown as OBC and their profession is shown as agriculture, labour, selling of wood for their livelihood.
4. It is submitted that petitioner is a graduate engineer. He passed his 10th Class much earlier than obtaining such caste certificate contained in Annexure- P/37 on 21/2/1993. His date of birth is of the year 1971. Thereafter he took admission in Rani Durgawati Vishwavidyalaya to pursue his B.Tech degree in Electronic and Telecommunication subject. All through he never claimed any benefit of ST category, however, all of a sudden, he obtained a certificate which does not bear any dispatch number etc. and it only bears initial and seal of Naib Tahsildar, Nasrullahganj. This certificate was searched for and in the report of Sub Divisional Officer, Nasrrullahganj, Distt. Sehore, dated 08/04/2005 it is clearly mentioned that said certificate is not found in the record of the Tahsil and was never issued by the concerned Tahsil as it does not bear any dispatch number.
5. After hearing learned counsel for the parties and going through the record, the law is well settled as held by Hon'ble Supreme Court in the case of Director of Tribunal Welfare, Government of Andhra Pradesh Vs. Laveti Signature Not Verified Signed by: TULSA SINGH Signing time: 7/19/2023 7:30:04 PM 4 Giri and another, AIR 1995 SC 1506 that onus of proof is on the petitioner. Petitioner did not obtain any scholarship whereas scholarship for ST students upto Class-10th was available irrespective of their income ceiling. Petitioner did not obtain admission in a Government Engineering College on the strength of his being a member of Schedule Tribe Category and had obtained admission as a General Category Candidate. Thereafter when he was required to apply for dealership published by the Indian Oil Corporation for grant of petrol pump, he obtained a certificate which too has no basis inasmuch as no Government certificate can be held to be a valid certificate without there being any issuance number and dispatch number. Thus, the certificate itself is prima facie not genuine, then the question is of the genuineness of the caste of the petitioner.
6. The material which has been produced by the petitioner in the form of extract from the book "Madhya Pradesh Ki Janjatiyan Samaj Avam Vyastha"
published by Madhya Pradesh Hindi Granth Academy, it is mentioned that members of the said community were predominantly found in Bilaspur, Surguja and Raigarh. 90% of the persons belonging to 'Kanwar' resides in Bilaspur Division. Hewitt (1869) called them as "Apoorn Rajpoot". Petitioner did not show any migratory pattern of his forefathers from Bilaspur Division to Sehore District. He did not produce any certificate to show that his father or grand- father too were classified as Schedule Tribe and had taken any advantage of the said community. Certificates of other relatives in absence of a certified family tree is not admissible. There is no justification for not obtaining a caste certificate till the stage of taking admission in the engineering college where education is subsidized to the members of the Scheduled Tribes Community.Signature Not Verified Signed by: TULSA SINGH Signing time: 7/19/2023 7:30:04 PM 5
Thus, in absence of any material produced by the petitioner and taking into consideration the law laid down by Hon'ble Supreme Court in the case of Chairman and Managing Director, Food Corporation of India and others Vs. Jagdish Balaram Bahira and others, (2017) 8 SCC 670, specially in paras-56 and 66, wherein it is held as under :
"Such a consequence must be avoided and stringent steps be taken by the Court to ensure that unjust claims of imposters are not protected in the exercise of the jurisdiction under Article 142. The nation cannot live on a lie. Courts play a vital institutional role in preserving the rule of law. The judicial process should not be allowed to be utilised to protect the unscrupulous and to preserve the benefits which have accrued to an imposter on the specious plea of equity. Once the legislature has stepped in, by enacting Maharashtra Act 23 of 2001, the power under Article 142 should not be exercised to defeat legislative prescription. The Constitution Bench in Milind [State of Maharashtra v. Milind, (2001) 1 SCC 4 : 2001 SCC (L&S) 117] spoke on 28-11-2000. The State law has been enforced from 18-10-2001. Judicial directions must be consistent with law. Several decisions of two-Judge Benches noticed earlier, failed to take note of Maharashtra Act 23 of 2001. The directions which were issued under Article 142 were on the erroneous inarticulate premise that the area was unregulated by statute. Shalini [Shalini v. New English High School Assn., (2013) 16 SCC 526 : (2014) 3 SCC (L&S) 265] noted the statute but misconstrued it."
This Court is of the opinion that the decision of the High Level Caste Scrutiny Committee as communicated to the petitioner to cancel his illegal caste certificate cannot be questioned as there is no material to take any other view, especially keeping in mind law laid down by the Hon'ble Supreme Court in the case of Laveti Giri and another (supra) & Jagdish Balaram Bahira and others (supra).
7. Accordingly, this petition fails and is hereby dismissed.
(VIVEK AGARWAL) JUDGE ts Signature Not Verified Signed by: TULSA SINGH Signing time: 7/19/2023 7:30:04 PM 6 Signature Not Verified Signed by: TULSA SINGH Signing time: 7/19/2023 7:30:04 PM