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1. The petitioner who claims to belong to the Scheduled Tribes "Mahadev Koli" sought admission to the Medical College at Aurangabad in the quota reserved for the Scheduled Tribes on the basis of the marks obtained by him in the Biology group at the H.S.C. Examination held in March 1983. He secured 65% marks in the Biology group and stood third in the merit list of the Scheduled Tribe candidates who had applied for admission to the Medical College against the seats reserved for Scheduled Tribe candidates. He was refused admission on the ground that he does not belong to Schedule Tribe, Mahadev Koli. The finding to that effect was recorded by the Director of Social Welfare, Pune in his capacity as the chairman of the Caste Verification Committee constituted by the Government to scrutinise the caste claims of persons applying for admission to various educational institutions and for employment in Government service. The finding was confirmed by the Director of Tribal Development cum-Additional Commissioner of Tribal Development, Maharashtra State, Nasik, in the Caste Appeal No. 17 of 1983 preferred by the petitioner. The petitioner has challenged these findings as perverse, and completely inconsistent with the various documents filed by the petitioner in support of his claim that he belong to scheduled Tribe, Mahadev Koli. We find that the documentary evidence tendered by the petitioner in support of his caste claims and the queer reasoning adopted by the Caste Verification Committee as well as by the Director of Tribal Development completely justifies petitioner's grievance that the findings on the basis of which his legitimate claim for admission to the Medical College came to be rejected were absolutely perverse and showed non-application of mind and basically wrong approach on the part of the concerned authorities.

3. We are more dismayed by the funny argument adopted by the Scrutiny Committee in respect of the service record of petitioner's father. The service recorded shows that as far back as in the year 1956 the caste of petitioner's father was record as back ward (Koli Mahadev). The Scrutiny Committee rejected this clinching piece of evidence on the ground that petitioner's father was shown in his service record as backward and not as belonging to Scheduled Tribe. This incorrect classification, according to the Scrutiny Committee rendered the service record of petitioner's father unreliable. This reasoning is obviously incorrect because Schedule Tribe is one of the recognise species of the genus "backward class". Hence simply because it was not specifically mentioned that petitioner's father belonged to one of the categories of the backward classes viz. Scheduled Tribe, the entry in the service record, the genuineness of which is, and cannot be challenged, cannot be ignored. The Director of Tribal Development gave different though equally absurd reason for rejecting this entry in the service record of petitioner's father in respect of his caste. The learned Appellate Authority found material difference between the certificate (Ex. 13) produced by the petitioner and the certificate (Ex. 163) produced by the office in which petitioner's father is working. In Ex. 163 the caste of petitioner's father is shown as "Backward (KoliMahadev" while in Ex. 13 it is shown as "Backward (Koli Mahadev). In our view there is absolutely no distinction, much less material, between the two entries. It is nobody's case that the word "Mahadev" was subsequently incorporated.

6. It is pertinent to note that persons belonging to Mahadev Koli caste and residing in Marathwada region were not recognised as backward falling in the category of Scheduled Tribes till the year 1976. They were recognised as Scheduled Tribes only from 1st of May, 1976 by virtue of section 4 of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes Orders (Amendment) Act, 1976 read with paragraph 3 of the Constitution (Scheduled Tribes) Orders, 1950 and the Schedule, as amended by the aforesaid Act. Therefore, as per the rules governing the entries in the School register as prevailing on the date on which the petitioner was admitted to the school it was not necessary to mention that the petitioner belonged to Mahadev Koli Caste. As per the form of School leaving certificates caste and sub-caste were required to be mentioned only in the case of pupils belonging to the backward classes and categories among backward classes, for example, S.C./S.T. etc. As at the time when the petitioner was admitted to the school, Mahadev Kolis in Marathwads region were not recognised as backward falling in the category of Scheduled Tribe, the petitioner was not expected to mention in his application for admission, nor the school authorities were expected to mention in the relevant school register, the caste to which the petitioner belonged.

8. Much was made by the Scrutiny Committee of the failure of the petitioner to mention the name of organisations representing Mahadev Koli Scheduled Tribe, and to correctly state the traditions and cultural functions, god and goddesses of Mahadev Koli Scheduled Tribe. The petitioner had mentioned the name of Tribal Research and Training institute as one of the social organisation of Mahadev Kolis. There is nothing surprising in this age that the petitioner who was born and brought up at a fairly big place like Udgir was unaware of the traditions, cultural functions and god and goddesses of Mahadev koli Scheduled Tribe. As a matter of fact in view of the voluminous documentary evidence it was not even necessary for the Scrutiny Committee to test this knowledge of the petitioner.