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The Judgment of the Court was delivered by K. RAMASWAMY, J.- Leave granted.

2. The appellants are Suchita and Madhuri, daughters of Laxman Pandurang Patil. Their grandfather was Panduranga Patil. Laxman Patil was admitted in the school in the year 1943. In his school admission register and his school and college certificates his caste was shown as 'Hindu Koli'. Suchita had applied through her father, Laxman Patil to the Tahsildar, Andheri on 30-11-1989 for issuance of caste certificate as 'Mahadeo Koli' a Scheduled Tribe. The Sub- Divisional Officer, Bombay Suburban District by his proceeding dated 22-6-1989 refused to issue caste certificate sought for by Ms Suchita and informed her that she was not a Scheduled Tribe 'Mahadeo Koli'. She filed an appeal before the Additional Commissioner, Konkan Division, Bombay. As she had applied for admission into the MBBS course and the time for her admission was running out, she filed Writ Petition No. 3516 of 1990 in the High Court to direct the Additional Commissioner to dispose of her appeal and to further direct to the Dean of D.YC. Naik Medical College to permit her to appear for interview and admit her in the college if she was found fit. It is not in dispute that she filed a copy of the judgment in Subhash Ganpatrao Kabade v. State Of Maharashtra1, wherein 'Koli' was held to be 'Mahadeo Koli', before the Additional Commissioner and also in the High Court. Because of the directions of the High Court she was admitted in the MBBS course and she is continuing her studies. The Additional Commissioner directed the Tahsildar to issue the certificate and accordingly issued to Miss Suchita the certificate as Scheduled Tribe. Miss Suchita applied to the Verification Committee for confirmation of her status as Scheduled Tribe. Madhuri applied for the issuance of Scheduled Tribe certificate before the Divisional Executive Magistrate, Greater Bombay, enclosing the order passed by the High Court in Writ Petition No. 3516 of 1990, dated 4-12-1990, in favour of her sister Suchita, which was issued on 23-8-1990 declaring her status to be 'Mahadeo Koli' and then she got the admission into BDS in the year 1992. Thereafter, she applied to the Verification Committee for confirmation. The proceeding by the Verification Committee was jointly conducted into the claims of the appellants, initiated on 8-12-1989, the father of the appellants was called upon to furnish in the prescribed form the detailed information regarding his family background, ancestry; and anthropology of 'Mahadeo Koli', Scheduled Tribe, to verify the veracity of his claim of status as ST.

5.The Committee as well as the Additional Commissioner relied upon a reportof expert committee which had gone into the sociology, anthropology and ethnology of the Scheduled Tribes including 'Mahadeo Koli' which formed the basis for the pro forma questionnaire prepared by the Government and as given to and answered by the father of the appellants. On the basis of the information furnished by the father of the appellants and the anthropological and ethnological findings in that behalf, the Additional Commissioner, in our view rightly, held that an argument of social mobility and modernisation often alluringly put forth to obviate the need to pass the affinity test is only a convenient plea to get over the crux of the question. Despite the cultural advancement, the genetic traits pass on from generation to generation and no one could escape or forget or get them over. The tribal customs are peculiar to each tribe or tribal communities and are still being maintained and preserved. Their cultural advancement to some extent may have modernised and progressed but they would not be oblivious to or ignorant of their customary and cultural past to establish their affinity to the membership of a particular tribe. The Mahadeo Koli, a Scheduled Tribe declared in the Presidential Notification, 1950, itself is a tribe and is not a sub-caste. It is a hill tribe, may be like 'Koya' in Andhra Pradesh. Kolis, a backward class, are fishermen by caste and profession and reside mostly in Maharashtra coastal area. Kolis have different sub-castes. Mahadeo Kolis reside in hill regions, agriculture, agricultural labour and gathering of minor forest produce and sale thereof is their avocation. Therefore, the cancellation of the social certificate issued by the Executive Magistrates concerned by the Scrutiny Committee was legal.

9. The Preamble to the Constitution promises to secure to every citizen social and economic justice, equality of status and of opportunity assuring the dignity of the individual. The Scheduled Tribes are inhabitants of intractable terrain regions of the country kept away from the mainstream of national life and with their traditional moorings and customary beliefs and practices, they are largely governed by their own customary code of conduct regulated from time to time with their own rich cultural heritage, mode of worship and cultural ethos. The Constitution guarantees to them, who are also Indian citizens, equality before law and the equal protection of law. Though Articles 14 and 15(1) prohibit discrimination among citizens on certain grounds, Article 15(4) empowers the State to make special provisions for advancement of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes. Article 16(1) requires equality of opportunity to all citizens in matters of appointments to an office or a post under the Union or a State Government or public undertakings etc. But Article 16(4) empowers the State to make provision for reservation of appointments or posts in favour of classes of citizens not adequately represented in the services under the State. Article 46 enjoins the State by mandatory language employed therein, to promote with special care the educational or economic interest of the Scheduled Tribes and Scheduled Castes and to protect them from "social injustice" and "all forms of exploitation". Article 51-A(h) enjoins every citizen to develop scientific temper, humanism and the spirit of inquiry and reform. Again Article 51-A(h) requires every citizen to strive towards excellence in all spheres of individual and collective activity so that the nation constantly rises to higher levels of endeavour and achievement. It is, therefore, a fundamental duty of every citizen to develop scientific temper and humanism and spirit of inquiry to reform himself in his onward thrust or strive to achieve excellence in all spheres of individual and collective activity. Since the Scheduled Tribes are a nomadic class of citizens whose habitat being generally hilly regions or forests, results in their staying away from the mainstream of the national life. Therefore, the State is enjoined under our Constitution to provide facilities and opportunities for development of their scientific temper, educational advancement and economic improvement so that they may achieve 3 (1994) 5 SCC 244 excellence, equality of status and live with dignity. Reservation in admission to educational institutions and employment are major State policies to accord to the tribes, social and economic justice apart from other economic measures. Hence, the tribes, by reason of State's policy of reservation, have been given the exclusive right to admission into educational institutions or exclusive right to employment to an office or post under the State etc. to the earmarked quota. For availment of such exclusive rights by citizens belonging to tribes, the President by a notification specified the Scheduled Tribes or tribal communities or parts of or groups of tribes or tribal communities so as to entitle them to avail of such exclusive rights. The Union of India and the State Governments have prescribed the procedure and have entrusted duty and responsibility to Revenue Officers of gazetted cadre to issue social status certificate, after due verification. It is common knowledge that endeavour of States to fulfil constitutional mandate of upliftment of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes by providing for reservation of seats in educational institutions and for reservation of posts and appointments, are sought to be denied to them by unscrupulous persons who come forward to obtain the benefit of such reservations posing themselves as persons entitled to such status while in fact disentitled to such status. The case in hand is a clear instance of such pseudo-status. Kolis have been declared to be OBC in the State of Maharashtra being fishermen, in that their avocation is fishing and they live mainly in the coastal region of Maharashtra. Mahadeo Kolis are hill tribes and it is not a sub-caste. Even prior to independence, the Maharashtra Government declared Mahadeo Koli to be criminal tribe as early as 29-5-1933 in Serial No. 15 in List II thereof. In 1942 Resolution in Serial No. 15 in Schedule B of the Bombay resolution Mahadeo Koli tribe was notified as a Scheduled Tribe. It was later amended as Serial No. 13. In the Presidential Scheduled Castes/Scheduled Tribes Order, 1950, it was reiterated. A slight modification was made in that behalf by the Presidential Notification dated 29-10-1956. In the 1976 Amendment Act, there is no substantial change except removing the area restriction. Thus Mahadeo Koli, a Scheduled Tribe continued to be a Scheduled Tribe even after independence. The Presidential Notification, 1950 also does recognise by public notification of their status as Scheduled Tribes. The assumption of the Division Bench of the Bombay High Court in Subhash Ganpatrao Kabade case', that Mahadeo Koli was recognised for the first time in 1976 under Amendment Act, 1976, as Scheduled Tribe is not relatable to reality and an erroneous assumption made without any attempt to investigate the truth in that behalf. Presidential declaration, subject to amendment by Parliament being conclusive, no addition to it or declaration of castes/tribes or sub-castes/parts of or groups of tribes or tribal communities is permissible.

11.It is seen that admittedly the appellants reside in Muland area. In the first instance Suchita rightly approached the Tahsildar having jurisdiction over the area concerned who refused to give her social status certificate as Mahadeo Koli, she filed an appeal and the High Court directed the Deputy Commissioner to dispose of the appeal who in turn without deciding the facts, directed the Tahsildar to issue the certificate. In the meanwhile she had, by orders of the court, got admission into the college and pursued her study. The Caste Certificate Scrutiny Committee, consists of the Secretary as Chairman and two members, and a Research Officer-cum-Director who have intimate knowledge in the identification of the specified tribes, considered the entire material. The Committee has stated and as is seen that the appellant's father clearly accepted that his caste is recorded in the college as well as secondary school and college records as Hindu Koli only. This fact is strengthened by the candidate's father's school record (document at Serial No. 1). In the new English School locality at Thane, the name of the candidate's father appeared in the admission register at Serial No. 3733, and the caste clearly shown there was as H. Koli. This school record, comparatively, is not only oldest but it being the record pertaining to candidate's father's admission to school prior to independence, it carries greatest probative evidentiary value, The caste of the person, as stated earlier, is determined on the basis of the caste of their parents, basically for the reasons that the caste is acquired by birth. When the school record of the candidate's father shows his caste as Koli, the documents which the candidates have produced (documents quoted at Serial Nos. 3, 5 to 8, 11, 13 to 16) showing their caste as Mahadeo Koli cannot be relied upon. All these documents furnished by the candidates are those manipulated and fabricated with to knock of the seats in educational institutions defrauding the true Scheduled Tribes to their detriment and deprivation. As the school record of the candidate's father shows his caste as 'Koli', the caste certificates which have been issued to the appellants and their relatives by the Executive Magistrate, Greater Bombay (documents at Serial Nos. 9, 10, 12, 17 to 19) are without proper enquiry and investigation, besides being without jurisdiction. Its reiteration in service record would not carry any credibility or a ground to accept the caste as Scheduled Tribe. The caste certificate issued by Samaj being self-serving and subject to scrutiny, they cannot be held to be conclusive proof to determine the caste claim. The finding recorded by the Committee is based on consideration of the entire material together with sociological, anthropological and ethnological perspectives which Mahadeo Kolis enjoy and of the OBC castes and sub- caste of the Kolis. The Additional Commissioner as well, has minutely gone into all the material details and found that when a section of the society have started asserting themselves as tribes and try to earn the concession and facilities reserved for the Scheduled Tribes, the tricks are common and that, therefore, must be judged on legal and ethnological basis. Spurious tribes have become a threat to the genuine tribals and the present case is a typical example of reservation of benefits given to the genuine claimants being snatched away by spurious tribes. On consideration of the evidence, as stated earlier, both the Committee and the appellate authority found as a fact that the appellants are not tribe 'Mahadeo Koli' entitled to the constitutional benefits. In Subhash Ganpatrao Kabade case', the approach of the Division Bench of the High Court appears to be legalistic in the traditional mould totally oblivious of the anthropological and ethnological perspectives and recorded their findings with unwarranted strictures on the approach rightly adopted by the Scrutiny Committee and the Additional Commissioner to be '(funny)' "obviously incorrect" and "queer reasoning". Admittedly the petitioner therein, in days preceding the Constitution, described himself in the service book as well as school leaving certificate as a Hindu Koli. The High Court also found that they were backward class but proceeded on the erroneous footing that Mahadeo Koli was introduced for the first time through 1976 Amendment Act and that, therefore, they were the genuine Scheduled Tribes entitled to the benefits. In view of the above, we cannot help holding that the reasoning of the High Court is wholly perverse and untenable.