The burden of proof lies on the applicant to establish their caste, and pre-Independence documents carry a higher degree of probative value. Validity certificates issued without inquiry and subsequent invalidation of caste claims can impact the petitioner's claim.

JUDGMENT

Anil S. Kilor, J. - Rule made returnable forthwith. The matter is heard finally with the consent of the learned counsel for the parties.

2. The present Petition is an outcome of invalidation of the Tribe claim of the Petitioner as 'Halba', Scheduled Tribe.

3. We have heard the respective learned Counsels for the parties.

4. Brief facts of the present case are as under:

4.1 The Petitioner claims to belong to 'Halba', Scheduled Tribe. The Petitioner's Caste claim was referred to the Respondent-Caste Scrutiny Committee, when he was in 12th standard. Now he is pursuing BDS course on reserved seat for Scheduled Tribe.

4.2. The Scrutiny Committee on receiving the Police Vigilance Cell report, has considered the same along with the documents submitted by the Petitioner and thereupon the Tribe claim of the Petitioner came to be rejected, vide order dated 30 March 2019. The legality and correctness of the same has been questioned in the present Petition.

5. Shri Narnavare, learned Counsel for the Petitioner submits that the Respondent-Committee has failed to consider and appreciate two validity certificates submitted by the Petitioner, of his cousin uncles Shri Ramchandra Narendra Deoghare and Deepak Vithal Deoghare as 'Halba", Scheduled Tribe. It is submitted that, therefore, invalidation of the Tribe claim of the Petitioner is erroneous.

6. He further submits that, the documents submitted by the vigilance cell, of pre-constitutional period, having entries as 'Koshti' were never supplied to the Petitioner and thereby an opportunity to explain the said entries, was denied to the Petitioner. It is submitted that the aforesaid entries denote profession as 'weaver' and not the caste. To substantiate his contention, he has placed reliance upon a judgment of the Division Bench of this Court in Priya S/o Pravin Parate Vs. Scheduled Tribes Caste Certificates Scrutiny Committee, Nagpur and others, (2013) 1 Mh.L.J. 180.

7. It is submitted that the Caste Scrutiny Committee erred in not assessing and evaluating the documents submitted by the Petitioners, having entries as 'Halba' along with the documents submitted by the vigilance cell, having entries 'Koshti", in totality. It is thus, submitted that no proper evaluation of documents, has been made by the Committee.

8. Per contra, Ms. Kalyani Deshpande, Assistant Government Pleader for the Respondent Committee opposed the Petition and pointed out that no document having entry as 'Halba' of pre-Constitutional period has been produced by the Petitioner in support of his Caste claim. It is further submitted that the two validity certificates on which the Petitioner is placing his reliance, are of the year 1995 and were issued without holding vigilance cell inquiry.

9. Ms. Kalyani Deshpande, Assistant Government Pleader further points out that subsequent to grant of validity certificates to the Petitioner's uncle, the Tribe claims of cousin brothers of the Petitioner, were rejected. Thus, she submits that the Tribe claim of the Petitioner was rightly rejected.

10. Shri Abhijit Deshpande, learned counsel for the respondent No.3 University, echoed the contentions of the learned Assistant Government Pleader and prays for dismissal of the petition.

11. To consider the rival contentions of the parties, we have perused the documents available on record. Thereupon it is revealed that the Petitioner has failed to produce pre-Independence period document having entry as 'Halba'. The documents which are produced by the Petitioner in support of his Caste claim are of the period between 1951 to 2016 having entries as 'Halba'.

12. It is a settled law that while dealing with documentary evidence, greater reliance may be placed on pre-Independence documents because they furnish a higher degree of probative value to the declaration of status of a caste, as compared to post-Independence documents. In the present matter, admittedly no document of pre-Constitution period having entry 'Halba' has been produced by the Petitio