JUDGMENT :

SANDEEP K. SHINDE, J.

1. Heard both sides.

2. Rule. Respondents waive service. By consent rule is made returnable forthwith.

3. The first respondent is the Scrutiny Committee, constituted in accordance with Section 6(1) of the Maharashtra Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, Denotified Tribes (Vimukta Jatis), Nomadic Tribes, Other Backward Classes and Special Backward Category (Regulation of Issuance and Verification of) Caste Certificate Act, 2000. The second respondent is the State Government through Department of Health and third respondent is the college, where petitioner is provisionally admitted to course of education in Bachelor of Dental Surgery (for short, “BDS”).

4. The Scrutiny Committee, invalidated petitioner's claim, belonging to Thakar (ST 44) Tribe, which is recognized as Scheduled Tribe, under The Constitution (Scheduled Tribes) Order 1950. It is against the order of the Respondent No. 1, this petition is preferred under Article 226 and 227 of the Constitution of India.

5. Petitioner in support of her claim submitted following documents for verification of her Scheduled Tribe Certificate through her father, as required under Rule 11(2) of the Maharashtra Scheduled Tribes (Regulation of Issuance and Verification of) Certificate Rules, 2003;

(a) School Leaving Certificate of Janardan Gopal Gaikwad – her father's paternal uncle;

(b) School Leaving Certificate of Vasant Gopalrao Gaikwad, her paternal grandfather;

(c) Certificates of Validity issued by the Scheduled Tribe Certificate Scrutiny Committee, Pune, Division to :

(i) Arun Chandrakant Gaikwad

(ii) Mangesh Arun Gaikwad

(iii) Sanjay Suryakant Gaikwad

(iv) Shrikant Mahadeo Gaikwad; certifying all belong to the Thakar Scheduled Tribe.

Petitioner's father Dilip Vasant Gaikwad filed genealogy tree of family, with affidavit sworn on 02.01.2018. Besides, Vigilance Cell has placed on record genealogy and verification report of school record of petitioner's blood relatives.

6. We have perused and gone through the original files and genealogy produced by the Vigilance Cell. It shows Ranganath was common ancestor. He had two sons; Gopalrao and Dattatray. Gopalrao had six sons, Shivaji, Janardan, Chandrakant, Mahadeo, Vasantrao and Suryakant. Petitioner's father is Dilip, son of Vasantrao.

7. Mr. Kudle, Learned counsel for the petitioner invited our attention to the School Leaving Certificate of Vasant Gopalrao Gaikwad, paternal grandfather of the petitioner and School Leaving Certificate of Janardan Gopal Gaikwad (paternal uncle of petitioner's father). Leaving Certificates show that paternal grandfather of the petitioner was born on 02.04.1937; admitted in the Ahilyabai Prashala Kumtha Naka, Solapur on 20.07.1942 and his religion/caste shown therein as 'Thakar'. The School Leaving Certificate of Janardan Gopal Gaikwad, shows that he belonged to 'Hindu Thakar'; he was admitted in the school of Jilha Parishad at Solapur in May, 1940 and he was born on 18.07.1923. Mr. Kudle submits, the School Leaving Certificates, being pre-constitutional document, has high probative value and as such committee could not have kept it out of consideration.

8. Mr. Kudle has invited our attention to paragraph nos. 7 and 13 of the impugned order, from where it appears that the Vigilance Cell produced the School/ Birth and Death entries of petitioner's relatives, on paternal side. Original records show about eleven documents of the said nature disclose the caste of petitioner's relatives as 'Maratha'; nine documents disclose caste of petitioner's relatives as 'Thakar'; one document as 'Marathi Thakar'; six documents as 'Hindu Thakar'; two documents as 'Hindu non B.C.' and one document as 'Hindu other backward'. We have also confirmed it from records.

9. The committee in paragraph no. 13 concluded that the school records of petitioner's relatives do not, unequivocally prove that petitioner is Thakar Scheduled Tribe. It is submitted by Mr. Kudle that even if some of the documents brought on record by