Prajakta Prabhakar Pupulwad Thr Father Natural Guardian Prabhakar Ramchandar Pupulwad v. The State Of Maharashtra And Another

wp-10123-25.odt

IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE OF BOMBAY

BENCH AT AURANGABAD WRIT PETITION NO. 10123 of 2025 Prajakta D/o Prabhakar Pupulwad, Age: 17 years, Occ: Education, R/o. Jirona, Tq. Umri, Dist. Nanded Through Father and natural Guardian of petitioner Prabhakar S/o. Ramchandra Pupulwad ...PETITIONER

VERSUS

1.

The State of Maharashtra, Through its Secretary, Tribal Development Department Mantralaya Mumbai The Scheduled Tribe Caste Certificate Verification Committee Kinwat Head Quarter at Chh. Sambhajinagar, Through its Dy. Director (R0, Dist. Chh. Sambhajinagar ...RESPONDENTS ....

Mr. Ghanshyam K. Chinchole, Advocate for the petitioner Mr. V. M. Kagne, AGP for respondents-State ....

CORAM : MANISH PITALE AND Y. G. KHOBRAGADE, JJ.

DATE : 13.08.2025 ORDER (Per: Y. G. Khobragade, J.) :- 1.

By the present petition, the petitioner impugns the order dated 05.08.2025 passed by the Respondent No.2/Scrutiny Committee, thereby invalidating her "Mannervarlu" Scheduled Tribe Certificate.

(( 2 )) Issue notice to the Respondents. The learned AGP waives notice on behalf of Respondents-State.

3.

Considering the urgency, the matter is taken up for final disposal at the motion. Heard both sides at length. 4.

Having regard to the rival submissions canvassed on behalf of both the sides, we have gone through the petition paper book. 5.

Needless to say, the petitioner is an aspiring student for Engineering professional course. Her MHT-CET-2025 (Maharashtra Common Entrance Test) result has been declared and she requires a caste validity certificate for the purpose of admission. 6.

As per the genealogical tree, Ramji Sambhaji Pupulwad had two sons, namely Sambhaji and Baloji. Waman, Chintaman and Dashrath are the sons of Sambhaji. Laxman and Ramchandra are the sons of Baloji. Gangadhar is the son of Waman. Laxman and Jayprakash are the sons of Gangadhar. Gangadhar and Suryakant are the sons of Laxman. Laxman, Ganpat and Dattatray are the sons of Gangadhar. Gangaprasad, Pranav and Shrinivas are the sons of Suryakant. Suryabhan, Godavari, Prabhakar and Maroti are the children of Ramchandra. Baloji, Ashwini and Jyotsna are the children of Suryabhan. Prajakta (present petitioner) and Pruthviraj are the children of Prabhakar. Manasvi is the daughter of Maroti.

(( 3 )) 7.

On the face of record, it prima facie appears that on 03.05.2006, Respondent No.2/Scrutiny Committee issued "Mannervarlu" Scheduled Tribe validity certificate in favour of Prabhakar Ramchandra Pupulwad, who is the father of present petitioner. On 31.03.2010, Respondent No.2 issued "Mannervarlu" Scheduled Tribe validity certificate in favour of Maroti Ramchandra Pupulwad, the real uncle of present petitioner. Besides this, this Court passed orders in different writ petitions directing Respondent No.2 Scrutiny Committee to issue conditional validity certificates in favour of the paternal blood relatives of the petitioner, as follows:

Sr.

No.

Name Date of Order Jayprakash Gangadhar Pupulwad Writ Petition No.12016 of 2023 dated 10.10.2023 Baloji Surybhan Pupulwad Writ Petition No.10942 of 2022 dated 10.07.2025 3.

Laxman Gangadhar Pupulwad Writ Petition No.42 of 2025 dated 03.01.2025 4.

Gangaprasad Suryakant Pupulwad Writ Petition No.732 of 2025 dated 16.01.2025 8.

Since Respondent No.2 Scrutiny Committee has not denied the paternal blood relations between the present petitioner, who are having conditional validity certificates, therefore, considering the law laid down in the cases of Mah. Adiwasi Thakur Jamat Swarakshan Samiti Vs. State of

(( 4 )) Maharashtra & Ors.; AIR 2023 SC 1657, Shweta Balaji Isankar Vs. State of Maharashtra & Ors., 2018 SCC Online Bom. 10341, Apoorva Vinay Nichale Vs. Divisional Caste Certificate Scrutiny Committee No.1 and Ors., 2010(6) Mh.L.J. 401, wherein it has been concluded that when the biological father, biological siblings, biological uncle etc., are granted validity certificates, a candidate so related to them, cannot be deprived of a validity certificate, the present Petitioner is entitled to have the certificate of validity.

9.

Needless to say that this Court has passed various orders and granted conditional validity certificates in favour of the paternal blood relatives of the Petitioner. Therefore, the Petitioner is also entitled to have a conditional validity certificate subject to the final outcome of the matters which the Committee has decided to reopen.

10.

The Petitioner appears to be an aspiring student for the professional course and intends to secure admission under the Scheduled Tribe reserved category. Therefore, she is called upon to furnish undertaking that, in case, her caste validity certificate is invalidated by the Scrutiny Committee, in that event she shall pay the tuition fees and admission fees applicable to the candidate from open category and no equity shall lie in her favour. In view of above discussion, the present Petition deserves to be allowed partly and the impugned order dated 05.08.2025 passed by

(( 5 )) Respondent No.2 Scrutiny Committee needs to be quashed and set aside. Accordingly, we proceed to pass the following order:-

O R D E R

(i) The Writ Petition is partly allowed.

(ii) The impugned order dated 05.08.2025, passed by Respondent No.2 Scrutiny Committee is hereby quashed and set aside. (iii) Respondent No.2 Scrutiny Committee shall immediately issue "Mannervarlu" Scheduled Tribe validity certificate in favour of the Petitioner, which shall be subject to following conditions:- (a) The caste validity certificates shall be subject to the outcome of the reverification of the validity certificates of her blood relatives proposed by the Scrutiny Committee.

(b) The Petitioner shall furnish undertaking before the Registrar (Judicial) of this Court as well as before the Scrutiny Committee and the Educational Institution with whom she will take admission for professional course, indicating that in case her caste validity is revoked, she would deposit the tuition fees and other charges applicable to the candidates from open category. (c) The Petitioner shall not claim any equity.

(d) The Petitioner shall cooperate with the Scrutiny Committee. [ Y. G. KHOBRAGADE, J. ] [ MANISH PITALE, J. ] HRJadhav