Bhagwan s/o Sambhanna vs The State of Maharashtra

Rule. Rule made returnable forthwith.

With the consent of the parties, taken up for

final disposal.

At the request of the petitioner, names of

respondent Nos. 3 and 4 shall stand deleted.

The petitioner was appointed as Assistant

Teacher in the year 1994 in Yashodabai Jogi School as

against the seat reserved for S.T. Category. At the

time of securing employment, the petitioner tendered

Tribe Certificate issued by the competent authority,

certifying that he belongs to ''Mannervarlu'' Scheduled

Tribe. The Tribe certificate of the petitioner was

referred for verification to Respondent No.2

Committee. The petitioner is continued in employment

till this date.

On 18.05.2013, the State Government issued a

Resolution, issuing guidelines in respect of taking

steps/action in the event of invalidation of caste

certificate of the employees appointed against

reserved vacancies. The State Government has

protected the employment of employees inducted prior

to 15.06.1995. By virtue of Resolution dated 18th

May, 2013, option is given to the employees to give up

claim as belonging to specified reserved category and

secure a certificate of caste/or tribe to which the

employee belongs and submit such certificate for

verification to the scrutiny committee. The

petitioner, acting upon the Government Resolution,

made representation to Respondent No.2 Scrutiny

Committee informing withdrawal of his claim as

belonging to Mannervarlu, Scheduled Tribe. It was

further informed by the petitioner to the Scrutiny

Committee that as he has secured certificate as

belonging to Munurwar, Special Backward Category.

The petitioner, after securing the certificate

as belonging to Munurwar, Special Backward Category,

submitted the same for verification and on

consideration of the evidence placed on record by the

petitioner, the competent scrutiny committee validated

the certificate issued to the petitioner as belonging

to Munurwar, Special Backward Category on 18.12.2013.

Respondent No.2 Scrutiny committee, however, insptie

of communication issued by the petitioner withdrawing

his claim as belonging to Mannervarlu, Scheduled

Tribe, proceeded to decide the proposal for

validation of tribe certificate which was earlier

forwarded by the petitioner and recorded finding that

certificate has been obtained by unlawful means and

has further directed registration of offence against

the petitioner. The order apart from being violative

of principles of natural justice, it was wholly

unnecessary for the Scrutiny Committee to take such

decision since the petitioner has a withdrawn his

claim based on the certificate issued to him in 1992.

The petitioner, apart from withdrawing the claim as

belonging to Mannervarlu, Scheduled Tribe, has also

obtained the certificate as belonging to Munurwar

(SBC category) and the competent scrutiny committee

has validated the subsequent certificate issued to the

petitioner.

The petitioner has taken steps as per the

policy declared by the State Government under the

Government Resolution dated 18.05.2013. The order

passed by the Committee dated 22.03.2017 is illegal

and deserves to be quashed and set aside, except the

observation that certificate issued to the petitioner

on 17.08.1992 as belonging to Mannervarlu, Scheduled

Tribe stands cancelled and confiscated. The order of

confiscation/cancellation of tribe certificate

ought to have been issued by the Scrutiny Committee at

the request of the petitioner, without entering into

the merits of the case and ought not have decided the

matter without observing principles of natural

justice.

Save and except as referred above, the order

dated 22.03.2017 passed by the Respondent No.2 Caste

Scrutiny Committee stands quashed and set aside. Rule

made absolute to the extent as above.

In the facts and circumstances of the case,

there shall be no order as to costs.