The main legal point established in the judgment is that the respondent erred in ignoring valid documents and misinterpreting the law, ultimately leading to the setting aside of the order and the direction to issue validity certificates to the petitioners.

JUDGMENT

Anil L. Pansare, J. -

Heard.

Rule. Rule made returnable forthwith.

2. The writ petition is heard finally with the consent of the learned counsel for the parties.

3. The petitioners have challenged the order dated 29/11/2020 passed by respondent No. 1-Scheduled Tribe Caste Certificate Scrutiny Committee invalidating the caste certificates issued in favour of the petitioners as belonging to Thakur Scheduled Tribe. According to the petitioners, they belong to Thakur Scheduled Tribe, which is enlisted in Constitution Scheduled Tribes Order, 1950. The petitioner No. 1 is real sister of petitioner No. 2. Both the petitioners are pursuing their studies under reservation to scheduled tribes.

4. The grievance of the petitioners is that the respondent No. 1 has ignored documentary evidence and invalidated the caste certificate on the basis of the documents that were obtained by Vigilance Cell, so also on the basis of affinity test. The learned Advocate for the petitioners submits that the documents obtained by the Vigilance Cell were belonging to certain persons, who were not relatives of the petitioners. Therefore, the respondent No. 1 could not have relied upon those documents.

5. It is further the case of the petitioners that blood relatives of the petitioners were granted validity certificate of Thakur Scheduled Tribe, some of which were issued in terms of order passed by this Court. However, the respondent No. 1 has ignored those documents without assigning any valid reason. The learned Advocate for the petitioners has taken us through various documents which according to him, were of prime importance, which respondent No. 1-Committee has ignored. It is accordingly argued that the respondent No. 1-Committee has committed serious error by invalidating the caste claim of the petitioners.

6. As against the learned AGP has supported the impugned order by contending that the respondent No. 1-Committee was well within its jurisdiction to consider the documents obtained by Vigilance Cell and to reject the claim of the petitioners. The respondent No. 1 has independently analyzed the claim on the basis of the documents tendered by the petitioners, documents obtained by Vigilance Cell and the result of affinity test. The said order is in tune with the guidelines issued by this Court, so also the relevant Rules.

7. Having heard both sides, what transpires is that there is a document which shows that a son was born on 1st of March, 1915 to great great grandfather of the petitioners and the caste of the great great grandfather has been recorded as Thakur. There are documents of other relatives as well, which show their caste as Thakur. These documents including following important documents were placed before the respondent No. 1-Committee. These documents belonged to six relatives of the petitioners in favour of whom the caste validity certificate was issued.

(1) Swapnil Pradip Bhuyar (cousin uncle)-caste validity certificate has been issued by the Caste Scrutiny Committee, Nasik.

(2) Tushar Pradip Bhuyar (cousin uncle)-caste validity certificate has been issued by the Caste Scrutiny Committee, Aurangabad.

(3) Surendra Ajabrao Bhuyar (cousin uncle)-caste validity certificate has been issued by the Caste Scrutiny Committee, Nagpur.

(4) Aalok Mangesh Bhuyar (cousin brother)-caste validity certificate has been issued by the Caste Scrutiny Committee, Amravati in terms of the order dated 02/08/2019 passed by this Court in Writ Petition No. 5186 of 2016.

(5) Sarita Shankar Bhuyar (cousin aunt)-caste validity certificate has been issued by the Caste Scrutiny Committee, Amravati in terms of the order dated 28/08/2019 passed by this Court in Writ Petition No. 4957 of 2019.

(6) Avinash Shankar Bhuyar (cousin uncle)-caste validity certificate has been issued by the Caste Scrutiny Committee, Amravati in terms of the order dated 28/08/2019 passed by this Court in Writ Petition No. 4957 of 2019.

8. These documents were ignored by the respondent No. 1-Committee by