In a batch of petitions filed before the Bombay High Court, a Division Bench of Justice M.S. Jawalkar and Justice Raj D. Wakode held that the Scheduled Tribe Caste Certificate Scrutiny Committee (Scrutiny Committee) and the Sub-Divisional Officer, Akola, had acted beyond their scope of jurisdiction and issued directions regarding the issuance of caste certificates to the petitioners.
The petitioners, who were siblings, challenged an order dated 27-09-2024 by the Scrutiny Committee, which invalidated their caste claim to the ‘Koli Mahadeo’ Scheduled Tribe. An order dated 20-05-2024 by the Sub-Divisional Officer was also challenged, whereby the caste claim was rejected.
The petitioners submitted that they had submitted applications along with numerous documents to the Sub-Divisional Officer, Akola, for the Scheduled Tribe Certificates. The said applications were rejected by order dated 08-08-2023, whereafter an appeal was filed before the Scrutiny Committee. The order was set aside and remitted back to the authority as a result of the appeal.
It was contended that after perusing the documents submitted by the petitioners, the Sub-Divisional Officer concluded that they had not fulfilled the requirement regarding area restrictions. The Sub-Divisional Officer took note of a sale deed which recorded the petitioners’ grandfather to be of the Koli caste. Since the deed was a revenue record, which had a higher evidentiary value, the Officer refused to issue caste certificates to the petitioners.
Further, the petitioners submitted that the respondent authorities did not consider the caste certificate issued to the petitioners’ father, which recorded his caste as Koli Mahadeo. After the Sub-Divisional Officer rejected the petitioners’ claim on 31-05-2023 and the same was upheld by the Scrutiny Committee on 13-09-2023, the petitioners filed a writ petition before this Court, whereby both orders were quashed, set aside, and remanded for fresh consideration.
Thereafter, the claim was again rejected by the Sub-Divisional Officer, and the same was confirmed by the Scrutiny Committee by order dated 27-09-2024.
The Court relied on Sharmila Vaz v. State of Maharashtra (W.P. 2011 of 2024) and found it evident that while exercising powers under Section 4 of the Regulation of Issuance and Verification of Caste Certificate Act, 2000, the Sub-Divisional Officer was not required to delve into the question of validity of the caste claim. The Court held that the Officer had acted beyond the scope of his jurisdiction by rejecting the petitioners’ applications.
Further, the Court stated that the Scrutiny Committee also exceeded its jurisdiction since it proceeded to decide the appeals as if it were adjudicating the validity of the caste certificates. It was also said that the Committee was not justified in dismissing the appeals on the ground that the petitioners failed to establish their claim regarding area restriction.
Thus, the Court quashed and set aside both the impugned orders and directed the Sub-Divisional Officer to issue caste certificates to the petitioners within three weeks. Further, the Scrutiny Committee was directed to consider the claim afresh without being influenced by the findings recorded in the impugned order dated 27-09-2024.
Appearances:
For Petitioners – Ms. Rajashree Kabra, Mr. S.D. Khati
For Respondents – Mr. J.Y. Ghurde
