Scrutiny Committee must recognize untainted validity certificates of blood relatives for same tribe claim, despite pre-cut-off documents showing different caste, absent fraud proof or government nullification order.

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 and request of the parties.

2. The Petitioner by this petition is challenging the order dated 12/11/2018, passed by the Respondent No. 2 District Caste Certificate Verification Scrutiny Committee, Akola, thereby invalidating the tribe claim of the Petitioner that he belongs to ‘Chapparband’ tribe recognized as Vimukta Jati (VJ) and enlisted at Serial No. 14 as per the Government Resolution dated 21/11/1961 and 20/03/1978.

3. The Petitioner is a Medical Student and has obtained a Caste Certificate from Respondent No. 3 - Sub-Divisional Officer, Akot on 24/02/2011 and forwarded the caste claim to the Respondent No. 2 Caste Scrutiny Committee for obtaining the Validity Certificate. The Police Vigilance Cell submitted its report dated 30/10/2018 to the Respondent No. 2 Caste Scrutiny Committee and consequently the Respondent No. 2 Caste Scrutiny Committee vide its order dated 12/11/2018, invalidated the tribe claim of the Petitioner.

4. In support of his tribe claim, the Petitioner has submitted following documents of pre-constitutional period:

5. It is pertinent to mention here that, apart from the Pre-constitutional period documents, the Petitioner has also submitted two validity certificates granted to paternal cousins of the Petitioner namely Shabbir Ahmed Shah S/o Usman Shah of the year 2007-08 and Mazhar Ahmad Shah S/o Usman Shah, dated 21/12/2011 respectively.

6. The counsel for Petitioners relied upon the following Citations:

(i) Writ Petition No. 8253/2019, Arshad Faizan Shah Vs. The State of Maharashtra & Anr. dated 05.11.2020

(ii) Writ Petition No. 5163/2018, Ms. Iftesam D/o Rajjak Shaha Vs. The State of Maharashtra & Anr. dated 16.10.2019

(iii) Writ Petition No. 1683/2018, Riyaz Rashid Shaha Usman Shaha Fakir Vs. The Chairman of Divisional Caste Certificate Scrutiny Committee, Wardha & Anr. dated 08.01.2020

(iv) Writ Petition No. 11863/2015, Ku Shah Nida Afrin Nawab Nizamuddin Vs. The State of Maharashtra & Ors. dated 25.11.2021

(v) Writ Petition No. 3386/2022, Soyab Shah Rustam Shah vs. District Caste Scrutiny Committee, Amravati & Anr. dated 03.11.2025

7. Per Contra, the Respondent No. 2 Caste Scrutiny Committee in its reply, contended that, there are 4 documents submitted by the Petitioner of the years 1945, 1924, 1926 and 1981 belonging to the ancestors of the Petitioner and none of the above documents shows the caste/tribe as ‘Chhapparband’.

8. It is submitted by the Respondent Scrutiny Committee that the entry dated 11/07/1945 of the grandfather of the Petitioner so also the entry dated 03/07/1981 of the father of the Petitioner, both shows the caste as ‘Musalman’ whereas the birth entry dated 11/04/1926 and the school extract dated 25/06/1924, both shows the caste as ‘Fakir’. Therefore, the order passed by the Respondent Committee is well-reasoned and not perverse.

9. Heard learned Counsel for the respective parties at length. Perused the record and proceedings with the assistance of the learned Additional Government Pleader and considered the citations relied on by the learned Counsel for the respective parties.

10. For the sake of convenience, family tree is reproduced as under :

11. The Petitioner placed on record two valadities issued in favour of his bl