Sai Rajaram Gaikwad and Another vs the State of Maharashtra through Secretary and Another — Bombay HC (2026) — LawSathi Research

Sai Rajaram Gaikwad and Another vs the State of Maharashtra through Secretary and Another — Bombay HC (2026) — LawSathi Research

What the court decided

AI extract

Outcome

Writ Petition partly allowed; impugned Scrutiny Committee order dated 12.01.2026 quashed and set aside; Committee directed to issue validity certificates to the petitioners as "Koli Mahadev" Scheduled Tribe, subject to the outcome of the Committee's re-opening proceedings concerning the relied-upon validity certificate, and the petitioners barred from claiming any equities.

Issue for consideration

Whether the petitioners' invalidated tribe claim of belonging to "Koli Mahadev" Scheduled Tribe deserved to be upheld and conditional validity granted, given that their blood relative had been granted conditional validity by this Court on the self-same record.

Court's answer

Since the petitioners' blood relative had been granted conditional validity by this Court and neither the Scrutiny Committee nor the learned A.G.P. disputed the petitioners' relationship with the validity holder, the Court was inclined to allow the Writ Petition partly.

Ratio / Principle

The impugned order dated 12.01.2026 passed by the respondent/Scrutiny Committee is quashed and set aside.

Key takeaways

The respondent/Scrutiny Committee is directed to issue validity certificate to the petitioners of belonging to "Koli Mahadev" Scheduled Tribe.ratio¶27
The issuance of the validity certificate in favour of the petitioners is subject to the outcome of the proceedings undertaken by the respondent/Scrutiny Committee for re-opening the validity certificate on which the petitioners placed reliance.ratio¶28
The petitioners shall not claim any equities.

Detailed headnote1 paragraphs

Scheduled Tribe claim – "Koli Mahadev" – Validity certificate – Scheduled Tribes Certificate Scrutiny Committee, Nashik Division, invalidated the petitioners' tribe claim by order dated 12.01.2026 citing contra entries – Blood relative of the petitioners, Akshay Raghunath Gaikwad, had been granted conditional validity by this Court in Writ Petition No. 10939 of 2019 after considering the self-same record – Neither the Scrutiny Committee nor the learned A.G.P. disputed the petitioners' relationship with the said validity holder – Writ Petition partly allowed: impugned order quashed and set aside; Committee directed to issue validity certificates to the petitioners, subject to the outcome of the Committee's proceedings for re-opening the relied-upon validity certificate; petitioners shall not claim any equities.

(1)

970 W. P. 2789-2026.odt

IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT BOMBAY BENCH AT AURANGABAD

970 WRIT PETITION NO. 2789 OF 2026

Sai S/o Rajaram Gaikwad, Age : 18 Years, Occ. Education, R/o. House No. 71, Ghulewadi, Sangamner, Dist. Ahilynagar

Om S/o Rajaram Gaikwad, Age : 18 Years, Occ. Education, R/o. as above. ... PETITIONERS

V E R S U S

The State of Maharashtra, Through Secretary, Department of Tribal Development, Mantralaya, Mumbai -32. 2. Scheduled Tribes Certificate Scrutiny Committee, Nashik Division Nashik-2, Through its Member Secretary. .. RESPONDENTS ….. Advocate for the Petitioners : Mr. Deepak D. Choudhari AGP for Respondents: Mr. S. P. Sonpawale

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

DATED : APRIL 22, 2026

ORAL ORDER (PER ABASAHEB D. SHINDE, J):-

Heard.

By this Writ Petition, the petitioners seek to challenge the

judgment and order dated 12.01.2026 passed by the respondent/Scrutiny Committee, by which the tribe claim of the

(2)

970 W. P. 2789-2026.odt

petitioners of belonging to “Koli Mahadev” Scheduled Tribe have been invalidated.

The learned counsel for the petitioners inviting attention of this Court to the genealogy annexed with the Writ Petition, which is also a part of record before the respondent/Scrutiny Committee, would submit that, the blood relatives of the petitioners namely Akshay Raghunath Gaikwad, whose tribe claim was invalidated, had approached this Court by filing Writ Petition No. 10939 of 2019 and this Court after considering the self-same record, granted him conditional validity. He, therefore, urged that the petitioners deserve to be granted conditional validity.

Per contra learned A.G.P. would submit that there are certain contra entries, which have been noticed by the Scrutiny Committee while invalidating the tribe claim of the petitioners. He would submit that, the Scrutiny Committee has rightly discarded the documents on which the petitioners have placed reliance. He however, does not dispute the relationship of the petitioners with the said validity holder namely Akshay Raghunath Gaikwad (supra).

Since the blood relative of the petitioners has been granted conditional validity by this Court and neither the Scrutiny Committee nor the learned A.G.P. has disputed the relationship of the petitioners with the validity holder, we are inclined to allow this Writ Petition partly. We, therefore, pass the following order.

(3)

970 W. P. 2789-2026.odt

O R D E R

(i) The Writ Petition is partly allowed.

(ii) The impugned order dated 12.01.2026 passed by the

respondent/Scrutiny Committee is hereby quashed and set- aside

(iii) The respondent/Scrutiny Committee is directed to issue validity certificate to the petitioners of belonging to “Koli Mahadev” Scheduled Tribe

(iv) The issuance of validity certificate in favour of petitioners would be subject to outcome of the proceedings undertaken by the respondent/Scrutiny Committee for re-opening the validity certificate, on which the petitioners placed reliance.

(v) The petitioners shall not claim any equities.

(ABASAHEB D. SHINDE) (SANDIPKUMAR C. MORE) JUDGE JUDGE

YSK/