22. In view of above discussion, there is no dispute in respect of
the documents showing 'Halbi' entry of 1893, which is the oldest one.
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It has greater probative value than the other entries. Thus, the
documents procured by the Vigilance Cell showing adverse entry as
'Koshti' pertaining to the persons which are not in relation with the
petitioner and those are considered by the Scrutiny Committee in
violation of Rule 2(h) of the Rules of 2012. The respondent-Scrutiny
Committee is not at all justified in rejecting the pre-constitutional
documents pertaining to the years from 1893 till 1948. So also, the
basis of affinity test which is also against the law settled by the
Hon'ble Apex Court in Maharashtra Adiwasi Thakur Jamat
Swarakshan Samiti v. State of Maharashtra and others (supra). As
such, the impugned order passed by the Scrutiny Committee, in our
considered opinion, is perverse and contrary to the law and provisions
and is liable to be quashed and set aside. Hence, the writ petition is
allowed.
18. The learned counsel for the petitioner also placed reliance
on the judgment in Sharayu d/o Ramesh Hedaoo v. The Scheduled
Tribe Caste Certificate Scrutiny Committee, Amravati & anr. (supra),
wherein this Court relying on the judgment in Writ Petition No.14111
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of 2021 (Mangesh Panditrao Thakur v. The State of Maharashtra,
Department of Tribe Development, Mantralaya, Mumbai through its
Secretary) and other connected matters, held that even if caste of any
of the relative is invalidated, that does not bind other relatives and
the claimant can establish his/her claim independently.
16. The learned counsel for the petitioner placed reliance on
the judgment in Sauravkumar s/o Sunilkumar Katole v. The
Scheduled Tribe Caste Certified Scrutiny Committee, Yavatmal
(supra), wherein this Court by relying on the judgment in Priya
Pravin Parate v. Scheduled Tribes Caste Certificates Scrutiny
Committee, Nagpur and others (supra) held in para 28 as under:
21. Further, in support of his contention, the learned AGP for
the respondent-Scrutiny Committee relied upon the judgment in Writ
Petition No. 16225 of 2023 (Ritesh Ashok Chougale v. The State of
Maharashtra and Ors.) (supra) and submitted that mere existence of
different caste entries can never, by itself, lead to falsification of
another set of entries unless it is demonstrated by the Petitioner that
the other set of entries does not depict the correct position with
regard to the social status claimed by the petitioner.