Sakshi Chandrakant Jamadar Ankushe vs the State of Maharashtra and Others — Bombay HC (2026) — LawSathi Research

Sakshi Chandrakant Jamadar Ankushe vs the State of Maharashtra and Others — Bombay HC (2026) — LawSathi Research

What the court decided

AI extract

Outcome

Impugned order dated 29.04.2025 quashed and set aside; Caste Scrutiny Committee directed to issue conditional tribe validity certificate of 'Koli Mahadev' Scheduled Tribe to the petitioner; petitioner's caste certificate made coterminous with those of the blood relatives relied upon and subject to re-verification before the Committee; petitioner and validity holders to extend full co-operation for re-verification proceedings; petitioner not to claim any equities; writ petition disposed of.

Issue for consideration

Whether the petitioner's claim of belonging to 'Koli Mahadev' Scheduled Tribe, invalidated by the Caste Scrutiny Committee's order dated 29.04.2025, should stand. +1 more

Ratio / Principle

This Court had already granted conditional validity to the petitioner's distant blood relative Manjiree on consideration of the self-same documents; the Committee therefore erred in discarding those documents.

Key takeaways

Although the blood relatives' validity certificates are under re-verification with show-cause notices issued, unless the Caste Scrutiny Committee recalls those certificates they continue to hold the field.ratio¶22
The relationship of the petitioner with the validity-holding blood relatives has not been disputed by the Caste Scrutiny Committee in its order nor by the learned AGP.ratio¶22
Accordingly, the petitioner deserves the conditional validity certificate of 'Koli Mahadev' Scheduled Tribe, warranting partial allowance of the writ petition and quashing of the invalidation order.

Detailed headnote1 paragraphs

Caste/tribe validity — Maharashtra: The Bombay High Court (Aurangabad Bench), per curiam (Sandipkumar C. More and Abasaheb D. Shinde JJ.), partly allowed a writ petition challenging the Caste Scrutiny Committee's order dated 29.04.2025 invalidating the petitioner's claim of belonging to the 'Koli Mahadev' Scheduled Tribe. The Court relied on (i) a conditional validity certificate earlier granted by the same Court to the petitioner's distant blood relative Manjiree Kiran Ankushe (order dated 04.09.2024 in Writ Petition No.9622 of 2024) on the self-same documents, and (ii) validity certificates issued by the Committee to blood relatives Hanumant Prabhakar Jamadar (Ankushe) and Suryakant Ganpati Jamadar (Ankushe). Held: notwithstanding pending re-verification and show-cause notices, existing validity certificates continue to hold the field unless recalled by the Committee, and the petitioner's relationship with the validity holders being undisputed, she deserved conditional validity. The impugned invalidation order was quashed and set aside; the Committee was directed to issue a conditional 'Koli Mahadev' Scheduled Tribe validity certificate coterminous with the relatives' certificates and subject to re-verification, with the petitioner directed to co-operate and barred from claiming equities.

2026:BHC-AUG:716-DB

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IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT BOMBAY

BENCH AT AURANGABAD

WRIT PETITION NO. 10100 OF 2025

SAKSHI CHANDRAKANT JAMADAR ANKUSHE

VS.

THE STATE OF MAHARASHTRA AND OTHERS

Advocate for the Petitioner : Mr. Jadhavar Pratap V. AGP for Respondent/State : Ms. B.B. Gunjal

CORAM : SANDIPKUMAR C. MORE AND ABASAHEB D. SHINDE, JJ.

DATE : 07.01.2026

PER COURT :

. Heard learned counsel for the petitioner as well as learned AGP for the State and the respondent No.2/Caste Scrutiny Committee.

By this Writ Petition, the petitioner is challenging the common judgment and order dated 29.04.2025 passed by the Caste Scrutiny Committee by which the claim of the petitioner of belonging to ‘Koli Mahadev’ Scheduled Tribe has been invalidated.

Learned counsel for the petitioner submits that the distant blood relative of the petitioner viz. Manjiree Kiran Ankushe has already been granted conditional validity by this Court vide order dated 04.09.2024 in Writ Petition No.9622 of 2024 . He would further submit that even the respondent No.2/Caste Scrutiny Committee has also granted validity certificate in favour of her blood relatives viz. Hanumant Prabhakar Jamadar (Ankushe) and Suryakant Ganpati Jamadar (Ankushe).

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Learned counsel for the petitioner therefore, submits that though said validity certificates granted by the Caste Scrutiny Committee as well as by this Court was placed on record by the petitioner, the respondent No.2/Caste Scrutiny Committee committed an error in discarding the same. Learned counsel for the petitioner, therefore, submits that, considering this aspect, the petitioner deserves to be granted conditional validity.

Per contra, learned AGP while supporting the impugned order would submit that the Scrutiny Committee has considered the documents of 1976 showing the caste of the petitioner as ‘Koli’ which falls under the Special Backward Class Category (S.B.C.). He would further submit that the Caste Scrutiny Committee has also noticed certain interpolations in respect of the record pertaining to Hanumant Prabhakar Koli who is cousin grandfather of the petitioner, He, therefore, urge that the Writ Petition deserves to be dismissed.

After having considered the submissions advanced by the learned counsel for the petitioner as well as learned AGP, we find that this Court while granting conditional validity to Manjiree (supra), has considered the self-same documents. Even after considering the said documents, this Court has granted conditional validity to said Manjiree (supra).

Though the validity certificate of the distant blood relatives on the basis of which the petitioner is relying upon, are already subject matter of re-verification and show-cause notices have been issued to

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those validity holders, we find that unless the caste validity certificates of those validity holders is recalled by the Caste Scrutiny Committee, the same holds the field. The petitioner, therefore, deserves the conditional validity certificate. The relationship of the petitioner with those validity holders has not been disputed by either the Caste Scrutiny Committee in its order nor by the learned AGP.

In that view of the matter, we are inclined to allow the Writ Petition partly. We, therefore, pass the following order :

ORDER

i) The Writ Petition is partly allowed.

ii) The impugned order dated 29.04.2025 passed by the respondent/Caste Scrutiny Committee invalidating the tribe claim of the petitioner of belonging to ‘Koli Mahadev’ Scheduled Tribe is hereby quashed and setaside.

iii) The respondent/Caste Scrutiny Committee is directed to issue conditional tribe validity certificate of ‘Koli Mahadev’ Scheduled tribe to the petitioner.

iv) The caste certificate issued in favour of the petitioner will be coterminus with those blood relatives on which the petitioner is relying upon and subject to reverification that will be

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initiated before the Caste Scrutiny Committee.

v) We direct that the petitioner and the validity holders on the basis of which the petitioner is claiming conditional validity should extend full-co-operation for deciding the proceedings of re-verification. vi) The petitioner will not claim any equities.

vii) With these directions, the Writ Petition stands disposed of.

( ABASAHEB D. SHINDE, J. ) ( SANDIPKUMAR C. MORE, J. )

vsj..