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IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT BOMBAY, BENCH AT AURANGABAD
Mangesh S. Patil, Prafulla S. Khubalkar
Ganesh Narayan Koli (Bagul) – Appellant
Versus
The State of Maharashtra, Through its Secretary, Tribal Development – Respondent
JUDGMENT :
Prafulla S. Khubalkar, J.
Heard.
2. Rule. Rule made returnable forthwith and heard finally by consent of parties.
3. The petitioner has assailed the order dated 18th March 2024 passed by respondent No.2 Scrutiny Committee invalidating his claim for ‘Tokre Koli’, Scheduled Tribe, in a proceeding under Section 7 of the Maharashtra Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, De-notified Tribes (Vimukta Jatis), Nomadic Tribes, Other Backward Classes and Special Backward Category (Regulation of Issuance and Verification of) Caste Certificate Act, 2000, (for short ‘the Maharashtra Act No.XXIII of 2001’).
4. Claiming to be an elected Sarpanch of village Kheddigar, the petitioner’s tribe claim came to be referred to respondent No.2 Scrutiny Committee for validation of ‘Tokre Koli’ Scheduled Tribe certificate.
5. By the impugned order, the Committee has observed that the petitioner failed to establish his claim on the basis of documentary evidence as well as on account of failure to prove his affinity with ‘Tokre Koli’ tribe. While dealing with the documentary evidence, the Committee has assigned varied reasons for discarding the documents relied upon by the petitioner. The Committee has note
The burden of proof for establishing a Scheduled Tribe claim lies with the applicant, who must provide credible evidence and approach the court with clean hands.
The burden of proof for establishing a tribe claim lies with the claimant, and deceitful conduct in submitting manipulated documents undermines the validity of such claims.
Caste validation must prioritize historical documentary evidence over outdated affinity tests, reaffirming established rights of recognized tribes.
The court emphasized the importance of pre-constitutional documents in validating caste claims and condemned arbitrary administrative decisions lacking proper verification.
The court emphasized that pre-Constitutional documents are of higher probative value for determining tribe claims, and invalidation by the committee on the basis of affinity test was not legally soun....
Scrutiny Committees must accurately interpret documents without multiplying entries or ignoring replies to vigilance reports; perverse invalidations based on fabricated contra indications quashed wit....
The main legal point established in the judgment is the significance of pre-constitutional documents in establishing the genuineness of caste claims, the removal of area restrictions for Scheduled Tr....
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