R.K. Deshpande, J.

1. The claim of the petitioner for grant of validity certificate as belonging to 'Mana', Scheduled Tribe Category, which is an entry at serial No.18 in the Constitution (Scheduled Tribe) Order, 1950, has been rejected by the Scheduled Tribe Certificate Scrutiny Committee, Gadchiroli Division, Nagpur, by its order dated 11-10-2012, which is the subjectmatter of challenge in this petition.

2. The Committee records the finding that the entries in the school and revenue records of the blood relatives of the petitioner for the period from 1923-24 to 1950 consistently records the caste 'Mana'. However, all such documents are rejected mainly on the following reasoning :

(a) that 'Mana' community was included in the list of Scheduled Tribes in relation to the State of Maharashtra for the first time in the year 1960, that too in the specified area only, and the petitioner has failed to establish that he or his forefathers hail from the said area and migrated to the present place of their residence, from the said specified scheduled area,

(b) that there are nontribal communities like 'Badwaik Mana', 'Khand Mana', 'Kshatriya Mana', 'Kunbi Mana', 'Maratha Mana', 'Gond