Suryakant Sambhaji Maldode and Others vs State of Maharashtra through Its Secretary and Others — Bombay HC (2026) — LawSathi Research

Suryakant Sambhaji Maldode and Others vs State of Maharashtra through Its Secretary and Others — Bombay HC (2026) — LawSathi Research

What the court decided

AI extract

Outcome

Writ Petition partly allowed; impugned order dated 30.04.2025 of respondent No.2/Caste Scrutiny Committee quashed and set aside; Committee directed to issue caste validity certificate to the petitioners of belonging to 'Mannervarlu' Scheduled Tribe; petitioners' caste certificates to be coterminus with those of the relied-upon blood relatives and subject to reverification before the Committee; petitioners shall not claim any equities.

Issue for consideration

Whether the caste claims of the petitioners of belonging to Mannervarlu Scheduled Tribe, invalidated by the Caste Scrutiny Committee by its judgment and order dated 30.04.2025, should be recognised, given that conditional validity certificates have been granted to the petitioners' blood relatives by the Caste Scrutiny Committee and by this Court on the self-same record. +2 more

Court's answer

In view of the conditional validities this Court granted to blood relatives on the self-same record, the impugned order dated 30.04.2025 passed by the respondent No.2/Caste Scrutiny Committee is quashed and set aside.

Ratio / Principle

Until the caste validity certificates of the blood relatives of the petitioners are not recalled, the petitioners cannot be deprived of conditional validities.

Key takeaways

The respondent/Caste Scrutiny Committee is directed to issue caste validity certificate to the petitioners of belonging to 'Mannervarlu' Scheduled Tribe.ratio¶26
The caste certificates issued in favour of the petitioners will be coterminus with those of the blood relatives on which the petitioners rely, and are subject to reverification to be initiated before the Caste Scrutiny Committee.ratio¶27

Detailed headnote1 paragraphs

Scheduled Tribe caste validity - Bombay High Court (Aurangabad Bench) quashed and set aside the Caste Scrutiny Committee's order dated 30.04.2025 invalidating the petitioners' caste claims of belonging to 'Mannervarlu' Scheduled Tribe. The Court held that, since several blood relatives of the petitioners had already been granted conditional validity certificates by the Caste Scrutiny Committee and by this Court on the self-same record (notwithstanding showcause notices issued for recalling those certificates), the petitioners could not be deprived of conditional validities until such blood-relative certificates were actually recalled. The Committee was directed to issue caste validity certificates to the petitioners, coterminous with those of the blood relatives relied upon and subject to reverification before the Committee; the petitioners were directed not to claim any equities. Contra entries and interpolations recorded by the Committee in the relied-upon documents were noted by the learned AGP but did not prevent the quashing of the invalidation order.

2026:BHC-AUG:709-DB

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IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT BOMBAY BENCH AT AURANGABAD

971 WRIT PETITION NO. 6434 OF 2025

SURYAKANT SAMBHAJI MALDODE AND OTHERS

VERSUS

STATE OF MAHARASHTRA THROUGH ITS SECRETARY AND OTHERS

Advocate for the Petitioner : Mr. Ramchandra K Mendadkar With Vijay Gangalwad AGP for Respondent/State : Mr. Madhukar A. Aher

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

DATE : 06.01.2026

PER COURT :

. Heard.

By this Writ Petition, the petitioners are taking an exception to the judgment and order passed by the respondent/Caste Scrutiny Committee dated 30.04.2025 by which the respondent/Caste Scrutiny Committee has invalidated the caste claims of the petitioners of belonging to Mannervarlu Scheduled Tribe.

Learned counsel for the petitioners submits that there are several validities granted in the family of the petitioners by the Caste Scrutiny Committee as well as by this Court, the Caste Scrutiny Committee ought to have relied on same material which has already been considered by this Court while granting conditional validities to the blood relatives of the petitioners.

Per contra, learned AGP submits that the Caste Scrutiny

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Committee found certain contra entries as well as interpolations in the documents relied upon by the petitioners and thus has passed the impugned order and to that effect the learned AGP has relied on page No.26 of the Writ Petition to point out contra entries recorded by the Caste Scrutiny Committee.

We have perused the impugned order as well as the order passed by this Court in the case of Kum.Megha Devanand Malode vs. The State of Maharashtra and Another in Writ Petition No.561 of 2023 , Vaishnavi Yeshwantrao Maldode vs. The State of Maharashtra and others in Writ Petition No.7585 of 2018 , Nandini Devanand Maldode vs. The State of Maharashtra and others in Writ Petition No.7617 of 2018 and Shekhar Sudhakar Maldode vs. The State of Maharashtra Through its Secretary and Another in Writ Petition No.8677 of 2024 with connected Writ Petitions wherein, this Court by considering the self-same record has granted conditional validities to those petitioners.

The learned AGP also submits that validity certificates granted to the blood relatives on which the petitioners are placing reliance, showcause notices for recalling of their caste validities have already been issued to them by the Scrutiny Committee.

We are therefore, of the view that till the said caste validity certificates of blood relatives of the petitioners are not recalled, the petitioners can not be deprived of conditional validities.

Considering the above facts, we pass the following order :

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ORDER

i) The Writ Petition is partly allowed.

ii) The impugned order dated 30.04.2025 passed by the respondent No.2/Caste Scrutiny Committee is hereby quashed and set-aside.

iii) The respondent/Caste Scrutiny Committee is directed to issue caste validity certificate to the petitioners of belonging to ‘Mannervarlu’ Scheduled Tribe.

iv) The caste certificates issued in favour of the petitioners will be coterminus with those blood relatives on which the petitioners are relying upon and subject to reverification that will be initiated before the Caste Scrutiny Committee.

v) The petitioners shall not claim any equities.

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

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

vsj..