Hiralal Ramdas Thakare v. The State Of Maharashtra Through Its Secretary And Others

(1)

IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT BOMBAY

BENCH AT AURANGABAD 75 WRIT PETITION NO.3816 OF 2023 HIRALAL RAMDAS THAKARE

VERSUS

THE STATE OF MAHARASHTRA THROUGH ITS SECRETARY AND OTHERS ....

Mr P. V. Jadhavar, Advocate for Petitioner;

Mr S. P. Tiwari, A.G.P. for Respondents/State CORAM : RAVINDRA V. GHUGE AND SANJAY A. DESHMUKH, JJ.

DATE : 3rd April, 2023 PER COURT:

1.

The Petitioner is aggrieved by the impugned order dated 28/11/2022, passed by the Competent Committee, and the order of the Sub Divisional Officer, dated 18/07/2022. 2.

We find that, the Committee has passed the impugned order, concluding that, there is a spelling mistake in the tribe certificate of the Petitioner. According to the Committee, the spelling should be 'Tokre Koli'.

3.

We have already taken a view that, the Committee would not close the validation proceedings on account of a

(2) spelling mistake. At best, they may direct the candidate to seek a replacement of the certificate with appropriate spelling. They would not close the proceedings only on these grounds. 4.

In Writ Petition No.12624/2022, we have directed that, henceforth, if any such order is noticed by us vide which, the proposal is disposed off only on such technical grounds and the candidate is directed to resubmit a fresh proposal, we would be imposing heavy costs on the members of the Scrutiny Committee for having indulged in dereliction of duties in not scrutinizing the proposals properly at the time of receiving them and raising such objections after a long period when the candidate is handed down a final order.

We have directed the Principal Secretary, Tribal Development Department, State of Maharashtra, Mantralaya, Mumbai; the Principal Secretary, Social Justice and Special Assistance Department, State of Maharashtra, Mantralaya, Mumbai; the Commissioner, Tribal Research and Training Institute, Pune, (TRTI) and the Commissioner, Dr.

(3) certificates under the Maharashtra Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, De-Notified Tribes (Vimukta Jatis), Nomadic Tribes, Other Backward Classes and Special Backward Category (Regulation of Issuance and Verification of) Caste Certificate Act, 2000. These authorities would be at liberty to direct the Scrutiny Committees to make assessment as regards such orders having been passed and recall such orders by issuing notices to the applicants. Thereafter, the original certificates be returned to the applicants so as to be got corrected and to be produced in the same pending proceedings for adjudication, which shall not be disposed off on technical grounds.

5.

In the present case, the impugned order is passed before we had passed the above order.

6.

In view of the above, this petition is disposed off with the following directions :- (a) The proceedings of the Petitioner before the Competent Scheduled Tribe Committee at Dhule, stand restored to the file of the Committee.

(4) (b) The Petitioner would tender an online application to the Competent Sub Divisional Officer and seek replacement of his tribe certificate with appropriate spelling 'Tokre Koli'.

(c) Within 15 days of receiving such online certificate and the Petitioner returning the original tribe certificate, the Sub Divisional Officer would issue a corrected certificate. (d) The Petitioner would tender such certificate to the Committee as soon as he receives it and the Committee shall thereafter, proceed with the validation proceedings at the stage, at which it was aborted.

(SANJAY A. DESHMUKH, J.) (RAVINDRA V. GHUGE, J.) sjk