Prachi Sanjayrao Modwan v. The State Of Maharashtra And Others
1 WP 3552.20
IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT BOMBAY
BENCH AT AURANGABAD WRIT PETITION NO. 3552 OF 2020 Prachi D/o Sanjayrao Modwan Age : 25 years, Occu.: Education R/o Kasar Galli, Mudkhed Tq. Mudkhed Dist Nanded At present, Swami Samarth Nagar Old Jalna Ambad Road, Jalna Tq. & Dist. Jalna .. Petitioner
Versus
1.
The State of Maharashtra, Through its Secretary, Medical Education and Drugs Department, Mantralaya, Mumbai.
2.
The Scheduled Tribe Caste Certificate Verification Committee Aurangabad, Through its Dy. Director (R), Aurangabad.
3.
The Dean Government Medical College, Aurangabad, Dist. Aurangabad.
4.
The Registrar, Maharashtra University of Health Sciences, Dindori Road, Mhasrul/ Nashik, District-Nashik.
5.
The Commissioner & Competent Authority, Commissionerate of Common Entrance Test Cell, Government of Maharashtra, 8th Floor, New Exelsior Building, A. K. Naik Marg, Fort, Mumbai.
.. Respondents
2 WP 3552.20 Shri Sunil M. Vibhute, Advocate for the Petitioner. Shri S. G. Sangle, A.G.P. for the Respondent Nos. 1 to 3. Shri D. P. Deshpande, Advocate for the Respondent No. 4. CORAM :
MANGESH S. PATIL AND SHAILESH P. BRAHME, JJ.
DATE :
01 AUGUST 2023.
FINAL ORDER (Per Shailesh P. Brahme, J.) :- .
Heard both the sides for final adjudication at the admission stage considering the urgency in the matter.
2.
The petitioner is challenging the judgment and order dated 26.02.2020 passed by the respondent No. 2/Scrutiny Committee thereby invalidating her caste claim of 'Mannervarlu' (Scheduled Tribe) and confiscating her tribe certificate. 3.
The petitioner is relying on five validity certificates issued in favour of paternal side close relatives.
4.
The learned Assistant Government Pleader supports the impugned judgment and order. According to him the Scrutiny Committee has considered the material on record in correct perspective and arrived at plausible conclusion. The school record was found to be tampered. The validity certificates were not reliable. The affinity test was also recorded against the petitioner.
5.
We have considered the submissions of the learned counsel
3 WP 3552.20 for the respective parties. We are shown original record of the petitioner and her father. The genealogy produced on record discloses that the validity certificates were issued to Sanjay Dattatraya Modwan, Gajanan Dattatraya Modwan, Sandip Sanjay Modwan and Pratik Sanjay Modwan. In case of petitioner's father there was vigilance report followed by an order of validity. Similar is the case with real brother of the petitioner. We hold that due procedure was followed before issuing caste validity certificates. The petitioner is also entitled to receive the validity certificate.
6.
The Scrutiny Committee has decided to reopen the validity certificates. The submissions of the learned A. G. P. which are made by drawing our attention to the original papers can be looked into by the Committee at the time of reverification of the validity certificates. We restrain ourselves from commenting upon the same. However, we can grant conditional validity to the petitioner, instead of absolute one. The impugned judgment and order is discriminatory and arbitrary.
7.
For the reasons recorded above, we dispose of the writ petition by passing the following order.
O R D E R
A) The writ petition is partly allowed. The impugned order is quashed and set aside. The respondent/Scrutiny Committee shall immediately issue tribe validity certificate to the petitioner
4 WP 3552.20 as belonging to 'Mannervarlu' (Scheduled Tribe), which shall be subject to the decision to be taken by the committee in the reopened matters.
B) The petitioner shall not be entitled to claim equities. [ SHAILESH P. BRAHME, J.] [ MANGESH S. PATIL, J.] bsb/Aug. 23