The rejection of a claim as a Scheduled Tribe member must be in accordance with the settled position of law, considering historical documents, government resolutions, and legal principles related to Scheduled Tribes.

JUDGMENT :

Bharati Dangre, J.

Rule. Rule returnable forthwith. Heard by consent of the parties.

2. In the second round of litigation, the petitioner claiming to be a Scheduled Tribe Thakar has approached this Court praying for quashing and setting aside the impugned order dated 23rd March 2015 passed by the Scheduled Tribe Certificate Scrutiny Committee, Konkan Division, Thane, invalidating his claim.

3. The petitioner obtained a caste certificate on 12th October 2001 from the competent authority which declared that he belongs to Thakar (Sr.No.44) of the Constitution (Scheduled Tribe's Order 1950).

The petitioner, relying on the said certificate came to be recruited as a Shikshan Sevak in the school run by the Zilla Parishad, Sindhudurg, Respondent No.3 and came to be posted in the school of Respondent No.4 where he is presently working. The appointment of the petitioner was on a post of Shikshan Sevak reserved for Scheduled Tribe. Pending verification of the claim, the appointment order was issued to the petitioner and his claim was made over to the Respondent No.2 Committee by the Respondent No.4 which resulted into the impugned order being passed on 23rd March 2015, which is a subject matter of the present petition.

4. In support of his claim, apart from the caste certificate issued by the Sub-Divisional Officer (Revenue) Kankavli, where the caste of the petitioner is recorded as Thakar, she placed reliance on several documents which included her School Leaving Certificates recording her caste as Hindu Thakar. She also relied on a School Leaving Certificate in respect of her father Dinkar Vyankar Thakar issued by the Head Master, Primary School, Shivdav, Tambawadi, Kankavli, District Sindhudurg, where the caste is recorded as 'Other Hindu' and date of admission is 30th October 1944. The caste certificate issued in favour of uncle, cousin brother, cousin sister were also placed before the Committee in support of her claim. A pre-constitutional document in form of a School Leaving Certificate in respect of the applicant's cousin grand father Ganu Kusha Thakar issued by the Higher Grade, Head Master, Zilla Parishad School, Harkul, Br. Taluka Kankavli, District Sindhudurg bearing Register No.131 where the caste is recorded as Hindu Thakar and date of admission being 1st April 1935 was also placed before the Committee in support of her claim. An affidavit sworn by the father of the petitioner before the Executive Magistrate, Kankavli highlighting the genealogy was also relied upon.

5. The Scrutiny Committee had before it an order passed by the High Court in Writ Petition No.9922/2013 dated 26th December 2014 where the Committee was directed to reconsider every aspect of the claim by affording opportunity to all the parties and liberty was also given to the petitioner to file additional evidence, oral as well as documentary, before the Committee. Pursuant to the said order, the petitioner was called for personal hearing on 7th July 2014 and she was subjected to questionnaire so as to ascertain her affinity towards Thakar Scheduled Tribe. The questionnaire covered the questions relating to the traditional occupations, customs, ceremonies, surnames of relatives etc. The petitioner was again heard by the Committee on 9th March 2015 and in support of her claim, she was permitted to bring in the representatives of the Sindhudurg Zilla Thakar Samaj for hearing and the representatives of the said association furnished information in relation to tradition, characteristics, place of origin, surnames of members of community and their customs.

6. The Committee referred to the documentary evidence relied on the petitioner and made an exhaustive reference to the place of residence of the petitioner and also ventured into ascertaining the affinity of the petitioner towards the Thakar, a Scheduled Tribe. As regards the place of residence, the Committee highlighted in great detail the history/background of the Thakars of Sindhudurg district of which the