Bombay High CourtWP/7760/2025allowed

Madhukar Gangaram Jumale v. The S.T. Caste Certificate Scrutiny Committee, Thr. Member/Secretary, Amravati And ANR.

2026-01-05Hon'Ble Smt. Justice M. S. Jawalkar , Hon'Ble Shri Justice Nandesh Shankarrao Deshpande4 pages

IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT BOMBAY,

NAGPUR BENCH, NAGPUR.

WRIT PETITION NO. 7760/2025 WRIT PETITION NO. 7760/2025 Madhukar Gangaram Jumale, Aged about 66 years, Occ.

Agriculturist, R/o. Lakhonda (BU), Tah. & District Akola .....PETITIONER(S) //// VERSUS // VERSUS // (1) The Scheduled Tribe Caste Certificate Scrutiny Committee, Through its Member/Secretary, Bhatkuli Road, Amravati, District Amravati (2) The Sub-Divisional Officer, Akola, Tq. & District Akola .....RESPONDENT(S) ●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●● ●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●● Ms. R.S. Kabra, Advocate for the Petitioner(s) Ms. R.S. Kabra, Advocate for the Petitioner(s) Ms. H.S. Dhande, Ms. H.S. Dhande, AGP AGP for the Respondent/State for the Respondent/State ●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●● ●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●● CORAM : M.S. JAWALKAR & CORAM : M.S. JAWALKAR & NANDESH S. DESHPANDE, JJ.

NANDESH S. DESHPANDE, JJ.

JANUARY 05 JANUARY 05 , 2026 ORAL ORAL

JUDGMENT

:- (PER:- M.S. JAWALKAR, J.) :- (PER:- M.S. JAWALKAR, J.) .

RULE. Rule made returnable forthwith. Heard finally by consent of learned Counsel for the respective parties.

(2) By this Petition, the Petitioner is seeking direction to the Respondent No. 2 - Sub-Divisional Officer, Akola to issue caste certificate to the Petitioner of belonging to caste 'Koli Mahadeo'.

(3) It appears that the Petitioner was holding the caste certificate of Koli Mahadeo which was issued in the year 1992. Learned Counsel for the Petitioner has placed on record the communication dated 12/03/2020 of the Tribal Research and Training Institute, Pune whereby directions have been issued to all the concerned Sub-Divisional Officers to issue caste certificates in the new format i.e. Form 'C' as contemplated under Rule 3 of the Maharashtra Scheduled Tribes (Regulation of Issuance and Verification of) Certificate Rules, 2003 after collecting the old caste certificates.

(4) This Court, in similar set of facts, has already directed the Sub-Divisional Officer, Daryapur to issue the certificate in new Form 'C'. It appears that the Sub-Divisional Officer refused to issue the certificate on the ground that there are no documents placed on record prior to the cut off date. The Appeal

preferred by the Petitioner before the Caste Scrutiny Committee also came to be dismissed on the same ground. It also appears from the order passed by the Caste Scrutiny Committee that the Scrutiny Committee decided the claim of the Petitioner on merits. In view of the communication dated 12/03/2020, the Competent Authority has to issue certificate in Form 'C' to the person holding the certificate of that caste prior to coming into effect the Rules of 2003. As such, in our considered opinion, the orders passed by the Sub-Divisional Officer as well as Caste Scrutiny Committee are required to be quashed and set aside. (5) Hence, we proceed to pass following order:-

O R D E R

(a) The Writ Petition is allowed.

(b) The order dated 06/02/2024 passed by the Respondent No. 2 - Sub-Divisional Officer, Akola and the order dated 30/10/2025 passed by the Respondent No. 1 - Scheduled Tribe Caste Certificate Scrutiny Committee, Amravati are hereby quashed and set aside.

(c) The Respondent No. 2 - Sub-Divisional Officer, Akola is hereby directed to issue caste certificate to the Petitioner in the new Form 'C', as per the Rules of 2003, after collecting and verifying the old caste certificate of Koli Mahadeo issued in old format. This exercise shall be done within a period of two weeks from the production of order before the Competent Authority.

(d) Needless to mention that issuance of caste certificate will be subject to the scrutiny of the concerned Scheduled Tribe Caste Certificate Scrutiny Committee. (e) The Petitioner shall appear before the Respondent No. 2 - Sub-Divisional Officer, Akola on 12/01/2026. (f) Learned AGP to communicate this judgment to the Respondent No. 2 - Sub-Divisional Officer, Akola. Rule is made absolute in the above terms. Pending Application(s), if any, stand(s) disposed of. (NANDESH S. DESHPANDE NANDESH S. DESHPANDE, J.) , J.) (M.S. JAWALKAR, J.) (M.S. JAWALKAR, J.)