Punamchand Barka Bagul v. The State Of Mah And ORS
( 1 )
IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT BOMBAY
BENCH AT AURANGABAD WRIT PETITION NO. 776 OF 2012 Surekha Pundlik Wagh, Age 41 years, Occ. Service, R/o Igatpuri, Tq. Igatpuri, Dist. Nashik.
Scheduled Tribe Certificate Scrutiny Committee, Nandurbar Region, Nandurbar Through its Member Secretary Zilla Parishad Nashik Through its Chief Executive Officer Panchayat Samiti, Igatpuri, Dist. Nashik Through its Block Education Officer WRIT PETITION NO. 793 OF 2012 Nitin s/o Shriram Thakur Age 24 years, Occ. Service, R/o At Post Savai Mukti, Tal. Shinkeda, Dist. Dhule At present Vartak Nagar, Police Line, Bldg. No. 52 B, Thane, Dist. Thane.
( 2 ) Through its Principal Secretary, Energy Department, The Executive Engineer, Maharashtra State Distribution Co. Ltd., Wagle Estate, Thane, Dist. Thane - 400 604.
WRIT PETITION NO. 1515 OF 2012 Smt. Kiran d/o Bhikan Thakur, Age 21 years, Occ. Nil, R/o Plot No. 38, D.D.C.C. Bank Colony, Wadi Bhokar Road, Deopur, Dhule, District Dhule.
Department of Tribal Development, Through its Secretary, Nandurbar Division, Nandurbar Through its Member Secretary.
WRIT PETITION NO. 3020 OF 2012 Dipak s/o Pratapsing Bagul, Age 27 years, Occ. Service, R/o Survey no. 106, Plot No.5,
( 3 ) Near Gokranmoraya Society, Walwadi Shivar, Deopur, District Dhule.
Through its Principal Secretary, Energy Department, The Chief General Manager (Tech) Maharashtra State Power Generation Co. Ltd., Estrella Batteries, Expn. Budg, Dharavi Road, Matunga, Mumbai 400 019.
4.
The Chief Engineer, Maharashtra State Power Generation, Co. Ltd., Bhusawal TPS 5.
The Establishment Officer, Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Co. Ltd., Bhusawal Thermal Electricity Center, Deepnagar, Tq. Bhusawal, Dist. Jalgaon.
...
WRIT PETITION NO. 7741 OF 2012 Punamchand s/o Barkha Bagul, Age 43 years, Occ. Service, R/o Patth Appt., Room No. 002, Fawning T.V. Centre Near Kirti Police Colony, Badlapur (E), Dist. Thane,
( 4 ) R/o C/o Gulabsing Barka Bagul, 10, Devchand Nagar, Near Ram Nagar, Golibar Tekdi Road, Dhule, Dist. Dhule.
...
Through its Secretary, Tribal Development Department, The Chief Administrative Officer Directorate Medical Education & Research, Govt. Dental College & Hospital Building, St. George's Hospital Compound, Near V.T., Mumbai - 400 001.
...
---- S/Shri M.S. Deshmukh and A.H. Horalkar, Advocate for the Petitioners in respective petitions.
Mr. A.R. Kale, AGP for Respondents/State.
Mr. V.R. Sonwalkar Advocate for Respondent No.3 & 4 in WP/776/12. Mr. V.C. Patil, Advocate h/f. S.M. Godsay for Respondent Nos. 3 to 5 in WP/3020/12.
---- CORAM : S.C. DHARMADHIKARI & MANGESH S. PATIL, JJ.
DATE :
31.07.2017 ORAL JUDGMENT :- .
Rule. Rule made returnable forthwith and heard finally with
( 5 ) consent of learned advocates for the parties. Heard both sides. Perused the petition and the annexures thereto.
The petitioners' claim of belonging to Thakur Scheduled Tribe has been negatived by the Scrutiny Committee. The order passed on 10.10.2011 / 13.01.2012, is, therefore, challenged in this petition. 4.
One of the grounds on which the order is challenged is that no distinction can be made on the basis of area or residence. The area restriction is removed by the Parliamentary Act No. 108 of 1976. Secondly, the Scrutiny Committee has failed to consider that the petitioners' nephews (sons of the cousin brothers from paternal side) have been granted certificates of validity. Thirdly, the Scrutiny Committee failed to appreciate that in pre-constitutional documents, it is evident that there would not be a specification, in the sense, it would be written as Thakur or Hindu Thakur but not as Thakur Scheduled Tribe. 5.
It is conceded that all these grounds have been accepted when this Court decided a batch of petitions, namely, writ petition no. 4575/2012 decided on 24.07.2017.
( 6 ) 6.
For the reasons set out in that judgment and order, even these writ petitions succeed. Rule is made absolute in terms of prayer clause 'A'. The committees' shall now issue certificates of validity to the petitioners within a period of two weeks from the date of receipt of a copy of this order.
[MANGESH S. PATIL, J.] [S.C. DHARMADHIKARI, J.] mub