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Judgment
(Per : M.W. Chandwani, J.)
Rule. Rule made returnable forthwith. Heard finally with the consent of both the parties.
Both these petitions are being disposed of by this common judgment, since the petitioners in both the petitions are real-sisters and are relying on the same documents on the basis of which the impugned orders have been passed by the respondent no.2 – Scheduled Tribe Certificate Scrutiny Committee, Nagpur (for short “Committee”) invalidating their caste claim.
It is the claim of the petitioners that they belong to ‘Mana’ (Scheduled Tribe) which is enlisted at serial no.18 in the Constitution (Scheduled Tribes) Order, 1950.
The respondent no.2 – Committee invalidated the caste claim of the petitioners by placing reliance on the document of the year 1912-1913 i.e. Bandobast Misal (P1) in respect of the great-grandfather Domya Pandu Mana. Surprisingly, the very same document was earlier relied upon by the real-sister of the petitioners namely Shubhangi Harishchandra Bharde in her caste claim before the very same Committee and she has been granted validity certificate. Once the respondent no.2 – Committee relied on this document i.e. Bandobast Misal (P1); in the case of the real sister of the petitioners, the Committee should not have discarded in the claim of present petitioners based on the same document. That apart, we have gone through the relevant portion of the said document which runs as under:
75/2 23-60 Ekks 2 7&60 MkseM;k HkkmQ lksek oYn ikaMw ekuk [k 1 11&50 dq-v- ikd- ek; fHkojh jk- xko pk [k 2 4&50 lk/kkj.k lkjk xk-u- 76 f>k- i-” Merely because there are abbreviations and the word ‘dq-’ (Ku.) appears, it does not mean that it refers to the caste ‘Kunbi’. Therefore, we find substance in the argument of the learned counsel for the petitioners that the document relied upon by the petitioners mentions the caste ‘Mana’ (Scheduled Tribe).
In view of the above, we find that the impugned orders passed by the respondent no.2 – Committee invalidating the caste claims of the petitioner do not stand to the reason. That apart, as noted above, the real-sister has already been granted the validity certificate. However, ignoring all these facts, the caste claim of the petitioners has been rejected. Therefore, we find that the impugned orders passed by the respondent no.2 – Committee are required to be set aside by allowing the petitions. Accordingly, we pass the following order:
The writ petitions are allowed.
The impugned order dated 23.02.2023 passed by the respondent no.2 – Scheduled Tribe Certificate Scrutiny Committee, Nagpur in Case No.JC/TCSC/NGP/II/49/31/2021 challenged in Writ Petition No.2075 of 2023 and impugned order 03.04.2013 passed by the respondent no.2 – Scheduled Tribe Certificate Scrutiny Committee, Nagpur in Case No.JC/TCSC/NGP/I/225/31/ 11-12 challenged in Writ Petition No.4158 of 2023 are hereby quashed and set aside.
It is hereby declared that the petitioners belong to ‘Mana’, Scheduled Tribe.
The respondent no.2– Scheduled Tribe Certificate Scrutiny Committee, Nagpur is directed to issue Validity Certificates to the petitioners within a period of two months from the date of receipt of this order.
Rule is made absolute in the abovesaid terms. No order as to costs.