The High Court dismissed a writ petition challenging the rejection of the petitioner's Scheduled Tribe (Mahadeo Koli) certificate by the Scrutiny Committee. The court held the committee applied the correct test from Madhuri Patil's case.
This page shows the compact analysis of this judgement. The full analysis — procedural history, issue-by-issue holdings with ratio and obiter, advocates, and paragraph-level evidence for every claim — is being added to the record in batches and will appear here when this judgement has been through it.
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IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT BOMBAY
CIVIL APPELLATE JURISDICTION
WRIT PETITION NO.1045 OF 2007
Sharad H. Beske....Petitioner
V/s.
The State of Maharashtra & Ors. ....Respondents
Mr.V.S. Talkute for the Petitioner.
Mr.V.P. Malwankar, AGP for the Respondents.
CORAM : F.I. REBELLO &
R.M. SAVANT, JJ.
DATED : 3RD APRIL, 2007.
P.C. :
1.By this Petition, the Petitioner impugns the
order dated 21.11.2006, passed by the Scheduled Tribe
Certificate Scrutiny Committee, Pune Region. The
Petitioner claimed as belonging to Mahadeo Koli, S.T.
The Petitioner’s caste claim has been verified by the
Committee. Vigilance report was called for, and
opportunity was given to the Petitioner of meeting the
contents of the enquiry report. The Petitioner was
also given an opportunity of personal hearing.
Statement of the Petitioner was recorded on 3.2.2000.
The learned Committee after considering the
documentary evidence and material pertaining to traits
and characteristics arrived at a conclusion that the
Petitioner had not established that he belonged to
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Mahadeo Koli, S.T. and consequently rejected the
Petitioner’s claim as belonging to Mahadeo Koli, S.T.
2.The learned counsel for the Petitioner
submits that the Petitioner had relied on two
documents, one of his uncle Dashrath Dhondiram Beske
whose caste is shown as "Hindu M.Koli". He was
admitted in the school on 1.3.1951. The next document
relied upon is of his aunt Shalan Dhondiram Beske.
The date of entry in the school is 20.6.1958. Both
these documents are post Presidential Notification.
Apart from that, they do not show that the said two
persons belonging to Hindu Mahadeo Koli. It is not
possible to draw the inference, that M.Koli must be
read to mean as Mahadeo Koli. In our opinion, this is
more so, as the grandfather Dhondi Shripati Koli’s
caste was shown as Koli and the school records shows
that he was admitted on 21.1.1921. Similarly the
father of the Petitioner was admitted on 4.2.1949 and
the school record shows his caste as Hindu Koli.
3.In our opinion, the documents of the
grand-father and father have probative value. Apart
from that, from the statement of the father, that the
Committee has come to a conclusion that the father was
unaware about the traits, characteristics, customs and
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traditions of Koli Mahadeo, Scheduled Tribe. In our
opinion, the Committee has applied the test laid down
in the judgment of the Supreme Court in Madhuri
Patil’s case. In the light of that, no interference
is called for. The Writ Petition is accordingly
dismissed.
(R.M. SAVANT, J.)
1 issue framed by the court
Whether the Scheduled Tribe Certificate Scrutiny Committee was justified in rejecting the petitioner's claim of belonging to Mahadeo Koli, S.T.
Colour shows how this judgement treated each authority
Madhuri Patil's caseApplied¶15
Sharad H. Beske
The State of Maharashtra
F.I. Rebello
R.M. Savant
As recorded by the court registry
Judgements on the same questions, provisions and authorities, from every court