ANOOP V. MOHTA, J.

Rule. Rule made returnable forthwith.

Heard finally, by consent of the parties.

2 Petitioner Nos. 1 and 2 have challenged common order dated 28 May 2015 passed by the Scheduled Tribe Certificate Scrutiny Committee-Respondent No.2, invalidating the caste certificates of the Petitioners as belonging to “Thakur-Scheduled Tribe”, issued by the Competent Authority.

3 The case of the Petitioners is as follows:i) On 5 January 1924, father of Petitioner No. 1 and real uncle of Petitioner No. 2 admitted in the primary school and on 9 December 1925, father of Petitioner No.2 and real uncle of Petitioner No.1 admitted in the primary school, where their social status was described as “Thakur”.

ii) On 6 September 1950, by exercise of powers conferred by clause (1) of Article 342 of the Constitution of India, the President was pleased to initially issue the Constitution (Scheduled Tribes) Order, 1950. As far as the then State of Bombay was concerned, the relevant portion is to be found in Part III of the Schedule to the 1950 Order. Entry 21 deals with "Thakur'. Clause 2 of the said Order says that the tribes or tribal communities, or parts of, or groups within tribes or tribal communities specified in Parts I to XIV of the Schedule to the Order shall, in relation to the States to which those parts respectively relate, be deemed to be Scheduled Tribes so far as regards members thereof resident in the localities specified in relation to them respectively in those parts of that Schedule. Thus, so far as the erstwhile Bombay State was concerned, "Thakur" was declared to be Scheduled Tribes.

iii) On 25 September 1956, the Parliament enacted the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes Order (Amendment) Act, 1956 amending the Constitution (Scheduled Tribes) Order, 1950 referred to above and the Thakar community was included as Scheduled Tribe for the first time, along with Thakur including Ka-Thakur, Ma-Thakur, Ka-Thakar and Ma-Thakar only in respect of some Talukas of five Districts of the then Old Bombay State. The above position continued even after Bombay Reorganisation Act, 1960.

iv) On 27 July 1977, the Parliament enacted Act No. 108 of 1976 on 18th September, 1976 viz. The Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes Orders (Amendment) Act, 1976 (Act of 1976). The Scheduled Tribes Orders were amended in the manner and to the extent specified in the Second Schedule to Act No. 108 of 1976. In the Second Schedule, Part IX deals with Maharashtra State. Entry 44 in the said Part IX reads as under:

“44. Thakur, Thakar, Ka Thakur, Ka Thakar, Ma Thakur, Ma Thakar”

v) On 14 June 1976, Petitioner No. 1 was admitted in the primary school, where his social status was described as “Thakur”. On 1 July 1978, Petitioner No. 2 was admitted in the primary school, where his social status was also described as “Thakur”. On 7 July 1983, the then Competent Authority issued caste certificate to Petitioner No.1 certifying that Petitioner No.1 belongs to Thakur tribe, which is notified as scheduled tribe under the Constitution (Scheduled Tribes) Order, 1950 as amended from time to time. In the month of July 1993, the tribe claim of the blood brother of Petitioner No. 1 and first cousin of the Petitioners was allowed by the Commissioner, Tribal Development in Appeal filed against the decision of the Scrutiny Committee and thus, held that the caste certificate issued to Shri Vijay Bajirao More is valid.

vi) On 6 October 1994, Petitioner No. 1 joined the services of Respondent No. 3Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Company Limited (for short, “MSEDCL”) on the post of Operator under reserved category of scheduled tribe.

vii) On 15 November 2000, the statutory caste scrutiny committee at Nashik validated the scheduled tribeThakur claim of Shri Rajendra Bajirao More, the real brother of Petitioner No. 1 and first cousin of Petitioner No. 2. On 16 August 2001, the Competent Authority, under the Act issued caste certificate to Petitioner No. 2 certifying