JUDGMENT :

Vibha Kankanwadi, J.

1. Rule. Rule made returnable forthwith. By consent, heard finally.

2. Present petition has been filed invoking the extraordinary writ jurisdiction of this Court under Article 226 of the Constitution of India, challenging the judgment and order passed by the Scheduled Tribe Certificate Scrutiny Committee, Nandurbar Region, Nandurbar (hereinafter referred to as "Scrutiny Committee"), rejecting the caste (tribe) claim of the petitioner as claimed to be in "Thakur, Scheduled Tribe" category, dated 09th/22nd March 2011.

3. The petitioner has come with a case that by birth, he belongs to Thakur, Scheduled Tribe category. He has completed M.B.B.S. course in 1991 from the seat which was reserved for Scheduled Tribe category. He completed his M.D. course in 1996 from open category and now he is working with respondent no.04 - College as Lecturer in Microbiology since 2001. The petitioner has contended that his family hails from village Marpur, Taluka Sakri, District Dhule. He and his relatives as well as other family members follow the customs of Thakur, Scheduled Tribe. He had applied to the Chairman of the Scheduled Tribe Certificate Scrutiny Committee, Pune, for verification of his tribe claim. It came to be rejected on 23-03-1993, against which he had preferred appeal before Additional Commissioner, Tribal Development Department, Nashik. That appeal also came to be rejected on 17-11-1993. Thereafter, he had filed Writ Petition bearing No. 2916 of 1994 (Bombay) [i.e. W.P.No.2154 of 1996 (Aurangabad)]. Interim relief was granted by this Court, thereby the impugned orders against him came to be stayed during the pendency of the writ petition. He had then appeared for the examination conducted by the Maharashtra Public Service Commission. He was selected and appointed as Lecturer in Microbiology. Since 10th August 2001, he is serving with respondent no.04 as Lecturer in Microbiology. When said writ petition came up before this Court, it came to be disposed of on 05-07-2010, quashing the orders passed by the lower authorities and remitting the matter back to the Scrutiny Committee for a fresh consideration. It was directed by this Court, that the Caste Scrutiny Committee at Nandurbar shall consider the claim of the petitioner on its own merits. The petitioner appeared before the Committee - respondent no.05 and submitted various documents to support his claim. The petitioner has given list of those documents which he had submitted before the said authority. Thereafter, report from Vigilance Cell was called. After considering the statement of the father of the petitioner and other documents, it is the contention of the petitioner, that the affinity test has been proved by him. However, he contends that without considering the said aspect, the Committee has rejected his claim. He is also contending that his close relatives have been granted validity certificate by the Scrutiny Committee. Those orders have also not been considered properly and, therefore, a perverse finding has been given by the Committee while rejecting his claim. He has, therefore, prayed for setting aside the impugned order and has also prayed for issuing appropriate writ to direct the Committee to validate his claim.

4. Heard learned Advocate Mr. M.S. Deshmukh, holding for learned Advocate Mr. A.S. Sawant, for the petitioner. Also heard learned Assistant Government Pleader Mr. S.D. Ghayal for respondents no.01 to 05.

5. Learned Advocate appearing for the petitioner has vehemently submitted that in catena of judgments this Court as well as the Hon'ble Supreme Court has laid down that the documents submitted by the claimant are required to be considered independently, so also, if a close relative of the petitioner / claimant has received a validity certificate, then that is also required to be considered. Here, in this case, the cousin uncle of the petitioner has received a validity certificate. His affidavit was filed on record along with the