M.T. JOSHI, J.

1. Rule. Rule made returnable forthwith. The Writ Petitions are taken up for final hearing, with the consent of the learned counsel for the parties.

2. Civil Application no.15395 of 2011, seeking intervention in Writ Petition no.7796 of 2011 is allowed, for the reasons stated therein. The applicant is permitted to intervene in the Writ Petition.

3. In these Petitions, common questions of law have arisen upon rejection of the claims of the Writ Petitioners, by the respondent-Scheduled Tribe Certificate Scrutiny Committee, that they belong to Thakur Scheduled Tribe.

4. One of the grounds in common for rejection of the claims of each of the petitioners is that mere old entries in the school record that either the petitioners or their ancestors shown as belonging to Thakur Caste, has no relevance and as such, one of the factors for determination is as to whether the petitioners or their ancestors had migrated from the area for which the Thakur tribe and other subtribes of Thakur were declared as Scheduled Tribe before the removal of area restriction by Act No.108 of 1976. The respondent-Scrutiny Committee has held that the removal of area restriction by Act No