Santosh Atmaram Morey vs State Of Maharashtra & Ors.

[PER : SANDESH D. PATIL, J.]

By the present Writ Petition, the Petitioner seeks quashing and setting aside of the impugned Order dated 5^th April, 2002 passed by the Respondent No.2- Committee for Scrutiny and Verification of Tribe Claims, Amravati, thereby invalidating the Caste Certificate of the Petitioner as belonging to the ‘Thakur Scheduled Tribe’.

The Petitioner had preferred a Writ Petition before the Nagpur Bench of this Court. Vide Judgment and Order dated 1^st August, 2018 passed by the Division Bench (Coram: B. P. Dharmadhikari and Z. A. Haq, JJ.), the said petition along with group of other petitions were dismissed. Maharashtra Adiwasi Thakur Jamat Swarakshan Samiti, thereafter, preferred appeal before the Hon’ble Supreme Court. The Hon’ble Supreme Court, vide its judgment dated 24^th March 2023, set aside the Judgment and Order passed by the Division Bench of this Court and directed the Registry to place the matter before the Court for deciding the cases individually. This is how the matter has been placed before this Court.

The Petitioner claims to belong to the caste viz. ‘Thakur Scheduled Tribe’. The only ground on which the caste claim of the Petitioner was invalidated was that, the Petitioner could not satisfy the affinity test.

Learned Counsel- Mr.Parsodkar, appearing for the Petitioner relied upon the record of Kotwal Register in case of grandfather of the Petitioner viz. Sakharam, where the Caste is recorded as Thakur. This certificate was granted on 14^th July, 1933. It is also the contention of the Petitioner that the cousin brother of the Petitioner viz. Vijay Rajaram More was granted Caste Validity Certificate on 7^th April, 2001. He also relied upon the Judgment and Order passed by the Nagpur Bench of this Court [Coram: B.R. Gavai and A. P. Bhangale, JJ.] on 20^th December, 2012 in Writ Petition No.1602 of 1998 wherein the Court was pleased to allow the Petition filed by the cousin-nephew of the Petitioner viz. Nandakumar Manohar More in which the Order passed by the Caste Scrutiny Committee was quashed and set aside.

Learned Counsel appearing for the Petitioner has relied upon the judgment of the Hon’ble Supreme Court in the matter of Maharashtra Adiwasi Thakur Jamat Swarakshan Samiti v. State of Maharashtra & Ors.^{11.2023 SCC OnLine SC 326}. He submitted that the impugned Order is principally based on affinity test and therefore, contrary to the judgment of the Supreme Court. He has also relied upon the judgment of this Court in Apoorva d/o Vinay Nichale Vs. Divisional Caste Certificate Scrutiny Committee No.1 and Ors.^{22.2010 SCC OnLine Bom 1053} He further relied on the judgment of this Court [Coram: M.S. Karnik and S.M. Modak, JJ.] dated 14^th January, 2026 in Shri. Dhondi Suresh Palve v. State of Maharashtra & Ors.^{33.Writ Petition No.2607 of 2010, High Court of Bombay at Bombay.}. He submitted that since the case of the Petitioner is supported by pre-constitutional document of the grand-father of the Petitioner, the said document should be given great weightage and that invalidating the caste claim certificate of the Petitioner only on the ground of affinity test was perverse. He prayed for allowing the petition.

Learned A.G.P. appearing for the Respondent-State on the other hand opposed the petition. She submitted that the Petitioner has failed the affinity test, and that the impugned Order is a reasoned and justified Order. She prayed for dismissal of the Petition.

We have perused the impugned Order. We have also perused the material on record and documents relied upon by both the parties, and heard the learned Counsel appearing for the respective parties at length. Mr. Ramkrishna Parsodkar, learned Counsel for the Petitioner at the outset, invited our attention to the family tree of the Petitioner. We have perused the family tree of the Petitioner which is a part of record in this petition and duly verified by the Vigilance Cell. The following is the family tree as supplied by the Petitioner:

Upon perusal of the family tree, it is clear that Sakharam More was the grandfather of the Petitioner. His father is Atmaram, Rajaram is his uncle, Vijay (son of Rajaram More) is his cousin brother and Nandakumar is cousin nephew. With these relations as are evident from the family tree, we proceed to consider the documents submitted by the Petitioner. The first document is the Kotwal Register of the grandfather of the Petitioner viz. Sakharam, granted on 14^th July 1933, wherein the Caste is recorded as Thakur.

Thereafter, the next document is the Caste Validity Certificate dated 7^th April 2001, granted by Committee for Scrutiny and Verification of tribe Claims, Nashik Division, Nashik in the name of Girish Vithalrao Thakur, wherein it is mentioned that Vijay Rajamram More, who is the cousin brother of the Petitioner was declared as belonging to the ‘Thakur Scheduled Tribe’ by this Court at Aurangabad Bench in Writ Petition No.713 of 1994. The cousin-nephew viz. Nandakumar Manohar More was also granted Caste Validity Certificate dated 31^st December, 2012 pursuant to the Judgment and Order dated 20^th December, 2012 passed by the Nagpur Bench of this Court in Writ Petition No.1602 of 1998.

The Transfer Certificate issued by the Headmaster of the Central Senior Primary School, Mangrul, Navghare shows that the father of the Petitioner viz. Atmaram Sakharam Thakur was studying in the said school, and that he left the school on 31^st July 1944. The caste of Atmaram is mentioned as ‘Thakur’.

These in nutshell are the documents which were before the Caste Scrutiny Committee. In the impugned Order passed by the Caste Scrutiny Committee on 5^th April 2002, the Caste Scrutiny Committee has basically relied upon the Vigilance Cell Report.

The Committee observed that although the documents submitted by the candidates show the caste entries as ‘Thakur’, the candidate and his relatives are not in a position to explain the characteristics and trades of their caste to the Committee and could not prove their affinity towards ‘Thakur Scheduled Tribe’.

The Committee had verified the caste claim. The Scrutiny Committee conducted the home inquiry through Vigilance Cell Officer. The Committee observed that the Vigilance Cell Report clearly showed that the candidate did not belong to the ‘Thakur Scheduled Tribe’.

The Committee proceeded on the footing that the entry ‘Thakur’ does not prove that the Petitioner belongs to ‘Thakur Scheduled Tribe’ and hence, affinity test was conducted. Thus, the Committee has not discarded the documents which are produced on record. The only reasoning given by the Committee is that the entry ‘Thakur’ could not prove that the Petitioner belongs to the ‘Thakur Scheduled Tribe’.

In light of the aforesaid factual position, the impugned Order which is passed only on the basis of the affinity test does not stand the legal scrutiny and hence, has to be quashed and set aside. The matter in hand is squarely covered by the decision of the Hon’ble Supreme Court in Maharashtra Adiwasi Thakur Jamat Swarakshan Samiti (supra) and judgment of this Court in Apoorva d/o Vinay Nichale (supra).

In these premises, we are of the opinion that since the close blood relatives of the Petitioner have already been granted the Caste Validity Certificate which are valid and subsisting as on today, the present Petition needs to be allowed and the impugned Order needs to be quashed and set aside. Hence, the following Order:

There shall be no order as to costs.

In view of the above, Writ Petition No.9656 of 2007 stands disposed off.