Smt. Arundhati W/O Arvind Amparwar (Maiden Name Miss Satyafulla Nanaji Porkute) v. Joint Commissioner And Vice Chairman, Scheduled Tribe Caste Certificate Scrutiny Committee And ANR

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IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT BOMBAY

NAGPUR BENCH, NAGPUR.

WRIT PETITION NO.4474 OF 2019 Arundhati w/o Arvind Amparwar Sinhgad Road, Pune ... Petitioner -vsJoint commissioner & Vice Chairman, Scheduled Tribe Caste Certificate Scrutiny committee, Adiwasi Vikas Bhvan, Giripeth, Nagpur And Anr.

... Respondents Shri S. S. Shingane, Advocate for petitioner. Shri A. S. Fulzele, Additional Government Pleader for respondents. CORAM : A. S. CHANDURKAR AND MRS VRUSHALI V. JOSHI, JJ. DATE : January 02, 2023 P.C.

Rule. Rule made returnable forthwith and heard the learned counsel for the parties.

The petitioner claims to belong to 'Halba' (Scheduled Tribe). She seeks to rely upon caste certificate dated 12/07/1982 that has been issued by the Executive Magistrate, Nagpur. On 02/09/2018 the petitioner sought verification of her tribe-claim by moving an application On-line. By the communication dated 01/11/2018 the petitioner was informed after On-line scrutiny that her application was rejected for the reason that the caste certificate uploaded was not as per Form-C. Being aggrieved the petitioner has challenged the aforesaid communication.

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The learned counsel for the petitioner submits that a similar issue was considered and decided by this Court in Writ Petition No.3676/2019 (Vijay Maroti Moundekar vs. Joint Commissioner and Vice-Chairman, Scheduled Tribe Caste Certificate Scrutiny Committee, Adiwasi Vikas Bhavan, Giripeth, Nagpur and anr.) on 04/06/2019 wherein it was held that verification of such caste-certificate cannot be refused only on the ground that it has been issued by the Executive Magistrate.

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The learned Additional Government Pleader seeks to rely upon the affidavit filed on behalf of the respondent No.1 to support the impugned communication.

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We however find that this Court in the decision referred to above has clearly held that the claim for verification cannot be refused only on the ground that the certificate produced has been issued by the Executive Magistrate and not by the Sub-Divisional Officer as required under Form-C. We therefore find that refusal to verify the castecertificate is not in consonance with the aforesaid decision. 5.

Hence in the light of the order passed in Writ Petition

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Rule is disposed of in aforesaid terms with no order as to costs. (Mrs Vrushali V. Joshi, J.) (A. S. Chandurkar, J.) Asmita