2025:BHC-NAG:14323-DB

IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT BOMBAY

: NAGPUR BENCH : NAGPUR.

WRIT PETITION NO . 3665 OF 20 14

PETITIONER : 1] Poonam Vasant Zade,

Age 18 years,

R/o C/o Vasanta Kashinath Zade,

At Pachgaon – Thakare, Post Bhatala,

Tah. Warora, Dist. Chandrapur – 442 914

2] Rina Vasant Zade, Age 21 years,(Deleted)

(Petr. nos.2 & 3

R/o C/o Vasanta Kashinath Zade,

are deleted as

At Pachgaon – Thakare, Post Bhatala,

per Court’s order

Tah. Warora, Dist. Chandrapur – 442 914

dtd. 09.09.2014)

3] Vasant Kashinath Zade, (Deleted)

Age 50 years,

R/o At Pachgaon – Thakare, Post Bhatala, Tah. Warora, Dist. Chandrapur – 442 914

VERSUS

RESPONDENTS : 1]The Scheduled Tribe Certificate Scrutiny

Committee, Chandrapur,

through its Member Secretary, Chandrapur

2]State of Maharashtra,

through its Principal Secretary,

Tribal Development Department,

Mantralaya Extension, Madam Cama Road,

Mumbai – 400 032.

3]Directorate of Technical Education,

Maharashtra State,

through its Regional Directorate,

Joint Director, Technical Education,

Regional Office, Govt. Polytechnic Campus,

Sakarnagar, Amravati – 444 603.

4]Principal, Jawaharlal Darda Institute of

Engineering and Technology,

MIDC, Lohara, Yavatmal – 445 001.

5]The Registrar, Sant Gadge Baba Amravati University, Amravati – 444 602.

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Mr. S. P. Khare, Advocate for the petitioner Ms. H. N. Jaipurkar, A.G.P. for the respondent nos.1 to 3.

Nobody appears for respondent nos.4 and 5.

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CORAM : SMT. M. S. JAWALKAR and M. W. CHANDWANI, JJ.

DATE : DECEMBER 09, 2025 .

ORAL JUDGMENT : (Per M.W.Chandwani, J.)

1. On oral motion, permission is granted to the petitioner to correct the cause title of the petition for incorporating the recent status of respondent no. 1 as per the Government Resolution dated

10.12.2019.

Necessary amendment be carried out forthwith.

2. The Caste claim of the petitioner that she belongs to “Mana” (Scheduled Tribe) which is enlisted at Serial No. 18 under The Constitution (Scheduled Tribe) Order, 1950 came to be invalidated by respondent no.1 – The Scheduled Tribe Certificate Scrutiny Committee, Chandrapur (hereinafter referred to as “the Committee”) vide impugned order dated 31.05.2014 relying upon only one contra entry in the extract of School Admission Register dated 01.07.1946 showing the caste of the grandfather of the petitioner namely Kashinath Krushna Zade , as ‘Mane”.

3. The petitioner was pursuing Bachelor of Engineering (B.E.) at the time of filing of the petition on a seat reserved for “Mana” (Scheduled Tribe). After obtaining the Caste certificate of “Mana” (Scheduled Tribe), the petitioner applied for validation of her Caste claim before the Committee. She relied on various documents belonging to herself as well as her forefathers and blood relatives showing their caste as “Mana”. The matter was referred to the Vigilance Cell for enquiry. During the enquiry, various documents were obtained by the Vigilance Cell showing the caste of the petitioner and her forefathers as “Mana”. The Committee ignored all the documents including the oldest document of the year 1918-19 i.e. Bandobast Misal (P1) pertaining to the great-great-grandfather of the petitioner showing consistent entry of the caste as “Mana”.

4. It appears that the Committee has lost sight of the legal position that the oldest document has more probative value as compared to all other documents. That apart, it is brought to our notice that during pendency of this petition, the real brother of the petitioner namely Suhas Vasant Zade has been granted validity certificate that he belongs to “Mana” (Scheduled Tribe). This fact has not been disputed by the learned A.G.P. A copy of the Validity Certificate issued in the name of the real brother of the petitioner and a copy of the claim application filed by petitioner’s brother before the Committee, are placed on record and