Ashutosh Modke vs State Of Maharashtra & Anr.

RULE. Rule made returnable forthwith. By consent of the learned counsels appearing for the parties, the matter is taken up for final disposal.

By this petition, the petitioner challenges the order dated 15.11.2018 passed by respondent no.2 – The District Caste Certificate Scrutiny Committee, Akola (hereinafter referred to as “the Committee”), thereby invalidating the caste claim of the petitioner that he belongs to “Hatkar” caste which is recognized as (Nomadic Tribe-C).

The petitioner secured admission in Smt. Meharbano Junior College of Science, Akola for 11^th and 12^th standard on a seat reserved for Nomadic Tribe-C. Therefore, the petitioner submitted an application to the Committee for validation of his caste certificate. In support of his caste claim, the petitioner submitted various documents including his Caste Certificate, School Leaving Certificates, School leaving certificate of his grandfather Ramdas Shankar Modke, extracts of Kotwal Book/Nationality Register pertaining to his cousin great-grandfather Kisan Hadgar and great-grandfather Shankar Govind Hadgar, school leaving certificate of his father and the caste validity certificates issued to his blood relatives. The case of the petitioner was referred to the Vigilance Cell for vigilance enquiry. Accordingly, a report dated 24.08.2018 was submitted by the Vigilance Cell to the Committee. The Committee, after considering the vigilance report and the documents submitted by the petitioner, invalidated the caste claim of the petitioner.

The Committee discarded the School Leaving Certificate of the petitioner and his father on the ground that these documents are post 1961 i.e. after the notified date of bringing the caste ‘Hatkar’ in the list of Nomadic Tribes at Serial No. 29(6). The school leaving certificate of Ramdas Shankar Modke, the grandfather of the petitioner, was discarded on the ground that the caste is shown as ‘Hadgar’ and not ‘Hatkar’. The Kotwal Book entry pertaining to Shankar Modke, the great grand-father of the petitioner is discarded on the ground that there is no evidence to establish the relationship as it has not been mentioned in the genealogical tree. The Kotwal Book entry of Kisan Modke, the cousin great-grandfather of the petitioner was discarded by the Committee on the ground that the petitioner has failed to establish his blood relations with him. The School Leaving Certificate of Chaitali Manikrao Modke as well as Ajinkya Janrao Modke has been discarded by the Committee citing the reason that these documents are very recent. The validity certificate granted in favour of Ajinkya Janrao Modke, Abhishek Pramod Modke, Chaitali Manikrao Modke and Vilas Pramodkumar Modke has not been considered by the Committee nor given any reason.

We have heard the learned counsels appearing for the respective parties and gone through the record and proceedings.

It appears on perusal of the record that the Vigilance Cell in its report has mentioned that Ajinkya Janrao Modke and Chaitali Manikrao Modke are the paternal cousins of the petitioner to whom caste validity certificates have been issued by the Scrutiny Committee which is not the correct position. The persons mentioned hereinabove are the uncles and aunt of the petitioner. Even the affidavits filed by the father of the petitioner before the Committee reveal that Ajinkya and Chaitali are his paternal cousins. Inspite of the fact that the relationship of the persons possessing validity certificates with the petitioner was wrongly mentioned in the vigilance report, the Committee discarded the fact that validity certificates were issued in favour of the aunt and uncles of the petitioner. A reference can be made to the decision in the case of Apoorva Vinay Nichale .vs. Divisional Caste Certificate Scrutiny Committee No.1 and others, reported at 2010(6) Mh.L.J. 401 wherein, it has been categorically held that if the candidate submits the caste validities issued in the name of his blood relatives, then the Committee shall issue validity certificate to the candidate/petitioner.

The vigilance report itself reveals that, in the School Leaving Certificate of the grandfather of the petitioner namely, Ramdas Shankar Modke as well as in the birth extract of the Kotwal book pertaining to Shankar Govinda Modke, the great-grandfather and Kishan Sitaram Hadgar, the cousin great-grandfather, which are of the years 1942 and 1934, respectively, the caste is shown as ‘Hadgar’. These documents are pre-constitutional documents and are written in ‘Marathi’ language. The words ‘Hatkar’ and ‘Hadgar’ are synonymous and therefore, there is every possibility that some mistake had occurred while writing the caste as ‘Hadgar’, instead of ‘Hatkar’ in the caste column. Rather, the learned AGP has failed to demonstrate that there is any other caste named ‘Hadgar’ which is not recognized as Nomadic Tribe (C). These aspects have not been considered by the Committee.

Inspite of the fact that caste validity certificates were granted to the blood relatives of the petitioner, the Committee chose to invalidate the caste claim of the petitioner. Thus, the findings recorded by the Committee while invalidating the caste claim of the petitioner are contrary to Rule 16 of the Maharashtra Scheduled Castes, De-notified Tribes (Vimukta Jatis), Nomadic Tribes, Other Backward Classes & Special Backward Category (Regulation of Issuance and Verification of) Caste Certificate Rules, 2012 as well as the mandate laid down in the case of Apoorva Vinay Nichale (supra). Therefore, the findings recorded by the Committee are required to be set aside.

Accordingly, the writ petition is allowed.

Rule is made absolute in the aforesaid terms. The writ petition stands disposed of. No order as to costs.