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 sound.

JUDGMENT :

M.S. JAWALKAR, J.

1. Heard. Rule. Rule is made returnable forthwith. Matter is taken up for final hearing at the stage of admission by consent of the parties and at the request of parties.

2. The Petitioner by this Petition is challenging the order dated 16.02.2024 passed by the Respondent No. 1 Scheduled Tribe Certificate Scrutiny Committee, Amravati (for short the “Scrutiny Committee”) thereby invalidating the caste claim of the Petitioner to the ‘Mannewar’ Scheduled Tribe mentioned at Sr. No. 18 of the Constitution (Schedule Tribe) Order, 1950, and further confiscating and cancelling the Caste Certificate issued to the Petitioner by the Sub-Divisional Officer, Akola on 16.07.2019.

3. It is the contention of the Petitioner that he has cleared his 12^th class examination from Khandelwal Gyan Mandir Junior College of Science and Commerce, Akola and his proposal of caste claim was forwarded by the Principal of the said College to the Respondent No. 1 Committee on 10.12.2019. In support of his caste claim, the Petitioner submitted following documents of Pre-constitutional period:

4. Since the caste claim of the Petitioner had not been decided by the Respondent No. 1 Committee within a reasonable period, the Petitioner filed a Writ Petition No. 2501/2020 before this Court seeking directions to Respondent No. 1 Committee to decide the caste claim of the Petitioner in time bound manner. This Court, vide its order dated 18.02.2021, directed the Respondent No. 1 Committee to decide the caste claim of the Petitioner within a period of two months from the date of order.

5. It is further contended that however, despite clear order from this Court, the Respondent No. 1 Committee failed to decide the caste claim of the Petitioner within a time bound manner. Therefore, the Petitioner was constrained to file a Contempt Petition No. 229/2021, which is pending before this Court. In the meanwhile, the Police Vigilance Cell conducted inquiry and submitted its report to the Respondent No. 1 Committee on 11.10.2021, whereby the Petitioner was issued a show cause notice on 27.09.2021 by the Respondent No. 1 Committee. The Petitioner appeared before the Committee and submitted his detailed explanation on 14.10.2021.

6. It is further submitted by the Petitioner that the Respondent No. 1 Committee by its order dated 18.10.2021, rejected the caste claim of the Petitioner and the same was challenged by the Petitioner before this Court vide Writ Petition No. 141/2022 on 06.12.2022. Accordingly, this Court remanded the matter back to the Respondent No. 1 Committee to decide the caste claim of the Petitioner afresh after giving opportunity to file documents vide order dated 17.07.2023.

7. Thereafter, the Respondent No. 1 Committee conducted fresh inquiry through the Vigilance Cell and issued show cause notice to the Petitioner on 26.10.2023. The Petitioner remained present for the hearing on 17.11.2023, and after hearing the Respondent No. 1 Committee, vide its order dated 16.02.2024 invalidated the caste claim of the Petitioner and further cancelled the caste certificate issued to him by the Respondent No. 2. The Respondent No. 1 Committee further ordered to initiate action under Section 10 (1)(2) and section 11 (1)(2) of the Maharashtra Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, Denotified Tri