Piyush Rajesh Yamgawali vs The District Caste Certificate Scrutiny Committee, Amravati

Heard.

Rule. Rule made returnable forthwith. Heard finally by consent of the learned counsels for the parties.

The petition challenges the order dated 25.05.2022 passed by the respondent- District Caste Certificate Scrutiny Committee, Amravati (for short, “the Committee”) invalidating the caste claim of the petitioner who claims to be belonging to ‘Gawali’ caste which is enlisted at Sr. No. 36 under the Nomadic Tribes-B category notified in the list in the year 1961.

The caste claim of the petitioner was invalidated inter alia on the ground that, in one of the documents submitted by the petitioner namely, the School Leaving Certificate (SLC) of Rajesh Pundlik Yamgawali, the father of the petitioner, dated 13.12.1996, the word ‘Lingder’ is suffixed to the caste ‘Gawali’.

The petitioner is perusing his studies. For the purpose of further education, he obtained the caste certificate and thereafter, filed an application for validation of his caste claim before the Committee. The petitioner relied upon various documents belonging himself as well as his forefathers showing their caste as ‘Gawali’. Apart from the said documents, the petitioner also relied upon the validity certificate granted to his real brother- Rohan Yamagawali. The Committee while referring to the suffixing word ‘Lingder’ annexed to caste ‘Gawali’ in the SLC of his father which is of the year 1996, sought explanation about the same. Thereafter, the petitioner by filing reply informed that earlier their forefathers used to stay in the State of Karnataka and belonged to ‘Lingayat’ community where ‘Lingayat’ are also referred to as ‘Lingder’.

We have heard the learned counsel for the petitioner as well as the learned AGP for the State and have also gone through the record. Perusal of the record reveals that apart from the SLC of the father of the petitioner, there are documents more particularly, the oldest document i.e. the extract of birth register dated 27.04.1942 mentioning the birth of a baby boy born to Barkya Mohanaji Gawali, the great grandfather of the petitioner wherein, the caste was mentioned as ‘Gawali’. However, the Committee ignored the oldest document as well as the validity certificate granted to the real brother of the petitioner and laid undue emphasis on the word ‘Lingder’ suffixing the caste ‘Gawali’ in the SLC of the father of the petitioner, which is a document later in point of time i.e. in the year 1996.

We are of the opinion that the Committee ought to have given weightage to the oldest entry of the year 1942 in respect of the caste of the great grandfather of the petitioner. The above-mentioned document of 1942 is a document which is prior to the date of notification of the caste in question in the Nomadic Tribes-B category, which was outrightly ignored by the Committee. Further, in view of the fact that validity certificate has already been granted to the real brother of the petitioner, the Committee ought not have invalidated the caste claim of the petitioner. Therefore, we are of the opinion that the findings recorded by the Committee do not to the reason and are required to be set aside. Hence, we pass the following order:-