Master Aaryan S/O Deepti Prithviraj Chavan, Thr. Guardian Mother, Deepti D/O Dnyanoba Kale v. State Of Maharashtra, Thr. The Ministry Of Revenue, Mumbai Thr. Secretary And ANR.

2025:BHC-NAG:13191-DB 1 26-wp-3667-25j.odt

IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT BOMBAY

NAGPUR BENCH, NAGPUR WRIT PETITION NO. 3667 OF 2025 Master Aaryan S/o. Deepti Prithviraj Chavan, Aged about 15 years, Occ. Student through guardian mother Deepti D/o. Dnyanoba Kale (Smt. Deepti Prithviraj Chavan), Aged about 43 years, Occ. Service, R/o. Plot No. 22, Cosmopolitan Society, Somalwada, Nagpur- 440025.

. . . PETITIONER // V E R S U S //

1. State of Maharashtra through the Ministry of Revenue, Mantralaya, Mumbai 400032 through its Secretary

2. Sub-Divisional Officer, Darwha District Yavatmal, Maharashtra.

. . . RESPONDENTS --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Shri N. C. Phadnis, Advocate for petitioner.

Shri A. S. Fulzele, Addl. GP for respondents/State. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- CORAM :- SMT. M. S. JAWALKAR & M. W. CHANDWANI, JJ.

DATED :- 24.11.2025 ORAL JUDGMENT (PER:

M. W. CHANDWANI , J.) :- Heard.

2.

Rule. Rule made returnable forthwith. Heard finally by consent of the learned counsels for the parties.

2 26-wp-3667-25j.odt 3.

The petitioner approaches this Court against issuance of the caste certificate in his name, suffixing the name of his father, who belongs to caste 'Maratha'. Needless to mention that, Deepti Dnyanoba Kale, now a divorcee and Prithviraj Chavan had an inter-caste marriage and out of the said wedlock, the petitioner was born. By a decree of divorce dated 30.09.2022 passed by the Family Court, Nagpur, the marriage between Deepti and Prathviraj was dissolved. The petitioner applied for grant of caste certificate before the Sub-Divisional Officer, Darwha (for short, "the SDO") which initially came to be invalidated on ground of non-submission of the documents of the father of the petitioner.

An appeal came to be filed before the Additional Collector, Darwha on the ground that the petitioner was brought up by his divorcee mother, who belongs to 'Dhangar' caste which falls under the Nomadic Tribe-C (NT-C) category. Therefore, in wake of the decision in the case of Rameshbhai Dabhai Naika Vs. State of Gujarat [(2012) 3 SCC 400], the Collector allowed the appeal and remanded the matter back to the SDO with a direction to re-hear the case of the petitioner. 4.

The SDO was convinced with the documents filed by the petitioner showing the caste of his mother as well as the relatives of his mother as 'Dhangar' and therefore, he granted caste certificate to the petitioner stating that he belongs to 'Dhangar' caste. However, while issuing the caste certificate, the SDO mentioned the name of the

3 26-wp-3667-25j.odt petitioner as 'Aaryan S/o. Prithviraj Chavan' instead of mentioning the name as 'Aryan S/o. Deepti Kale' as he had applied in the said name to the Committee.

5.

The grievance of the petitioner is that, instead of his mother's name, the name of his father is shown suffixing his name in the caste certificate issued by the SDO. The contention is that, in case the petitioner applies for grant of validity certificate before the Caste Scrutiny Committee, his caste certificate issued by the SDO suffixing his father's name with the name of the petitioner will have to be placed on record. The Committee will consider the caste certificate as a paternal document of the petitioner mentioning his last name as 'Chavan' which belongs to 'Maratha' caste. In his opinion, this may lead to the Caste Scrutiny Committee drawing an adverse inference against the petitioner that he belongs to 'Maratha' caste and not to 'Dhangar' caste by virtue of the last name mentioned in the caste certificate. In our view, the apprehension expressed is not well founded in wake of the decision in the case of Rameshbhai Dabhai Naika (supra).

6.

Be that as it may, since the application is filed in the name 'Aryan S/o. Deepti Kale', the son of a divorcee and the petitioner is being brought up by a single mother, the Committee ought to have

4 26-wp-3667-25j.odt granted the certificate mentioning the name as 'Aryan S/o. Deepti Kale' more particularly, when the documents of his mother Deepti Kale were produced before the SDO. Therefore, the petition can be disposed of by directing the SDO to issue the caste certificate in the name of the petitioner by suffixing the name of his mother stating that he belongs to 'Dhangar' caste and mentioning the documents of the maternal side of the petitioner within two weeks from the date of receipt of this order.

7.

The petition is disposed of in the abovesaid terms. No costs.

(M. W. CHANDWANI, J.) (SMT. M. S. JAWALKAR, J.) RR Jaiswal Signed by: Mr. Rajnesh Jaiswal Designation: PA To Honourable Judge Date: 29/11/2025 11:37:19