The main legal point established in the judgment is that the Scrutiny Committee does not have jurisdiction to issue show cause notices for cancellation of validity certificates without finding of fraud, misrepresentation, or gross suppression of material facts.

JUDGMENT :

Sandeep V. Marne, J.

1. Caste Scrutiny Committee, Aurangabad was tasked upon to decide the claims of Rushali Balaji Chitale and Akshay Balaji Chitale in respect of ‘Mannerwarlu’ Tribe. The Committee proceeded to invalidate the tribe claims of Rushali and Akshay vide judgment and order dated 19.10.2018. Rushali and Akshay had relied upon validity certificates issued in favour of several of their relatives, including their father. Rejection of tribe claims of Rushali and Akshay has triggered issuance of Show Cause Notices to their relatives, including their father, for cancellation of their respective validity certificates. Such Show Cause Notices have been subject matter of challenge before us in the present petitions.

2. Since the issue involved in all the writ petitions is common, we have discussed the facts in Writ Petition No.2552 of 2019 filed by Balaji Gunaji Chitale, who is father of Rushali and Akshay.

3. Balaji (hereinafter referred to as ‘the Petitioner’) has challenged Show Cause Notice dated 26.11.2018 issued by Scheduled Tribe Certificate Verification Committee, Aurangabad conveying him that a suspicion has been raised in respect of the validity certificate dated 16.08.2008 issued to him. Another communication dated 05.02.2019 is sent to him conveying him detailed reasons for issuance of the Show Cause Notice and asking him to show cause as to why his validity certificate should not be cancelled.

4. The case of the petitioner, in nutshell, is as under :

Tahsildar, Nanded issued Tribe Certificate dated 15.07.1995 in favour of the petitioner certifying that he belongs to ‘Mannerwarlu’ Scheduled Tribe. His niece, Jaishri Venkatrao Chitale, had applied for validity certificate and in her case, the Vigilance Report had pointed out overwritings in school records of her father and real uncle. The Scrutiny Committee passed judgment and order dated 07.11.2007 in the case of Jaishri upholding her caste claim and issued validity certificate of ‘Mannerwarlu’ Scheduled Tribe. Thereafter, he was issued validity certificate vide judgment and order dated 16.03.2008 of ‘Mannerwarlu’ Scheduled Tribe relying inter alia on the validity certificate issued in favour of Jaishri.

5. Petitioner’s children Rushali and Akshay were also issued Certificate of Mannerwarlu Scheduled Tribe on 19.06.2009. The Vigilance Report submitted in validity proceedings of Rushali and Akshay, inter alia pointed out that there were overwritings in the school records of the petitioner wherein “lu” was added in different handwriting and ink. The Committee, therefore, proceeded to invalidate the claims of Rushali and Akshay by judgment and order dated 19.10.2011 alleging suppression of facts. On account of invalidation of the caste claims of his children Rushali and Akshay, the petitioner is issued the impugned Show Cause Notice for cancellation the Validity Certificate issued in his favour.

6. Mr. R.N. Dhorde, learned senior advocate appearing for the petitioner has submitted that the impugned Show Cause Notice is not maintainable as the Committee cannot review its own decision in absence of any statutory power. Alternatively, he submits that there is no allegation of fraud in the entire Show Cause Notice and therefore, even if the power of review is assumed to be available, there is no material for issuance of the impugned Show Cause Notice.

7. To buttress his contention that there is no fraud or misrepresentation on the part of the petitioner, Mr. Dhorde has taken us through various orders passed by this Court with regard to issuance of Validity Certificates in the case of Ujwala Rangnath Chitale and Sanjay Rangnath Chitale, which were relied upon while issuing petitioner’s validity certificate. We shall refer to the said proceedings little latter. He has also taken us through the order passed by the Scrutiny Committee while issuing Validity Certificate in favour of Jaishri Venkatrao Chitale, who again is paternal relative of the petitioner. Furthermore, h