TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2006 (10) TMI 425
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....ed to him. Respondent obtained appointments and/or admissions in various institutions pursuant to or in furtherance of such certificate. However, the Scrutiny Committee constituted in terms of the decision of this Court in Kumari Madhuri Patil and Another v. Addl. Commissioner, Tribal Development and Others [(1994) 6 SCC 241], opined that he did not belong to the said community and in fact belongs to Kshatriya Thakur caste, whereupon his Scheduled Tribe certificate was cancelled. Appeal preferred thereagainst before the Additional Commissioner, Tribal Development, Nagpur, was also dismissed. Aggrieved by and dissatisfied with the said orders passed by the Appellate Authority as also the Caste Scrutiny Committee, writ petitions were filed before the Bombay High Court. Interim stay of the operation of the said orders having been granted, Respondent continued to remain in his service. The learned Judges of the Division Bench of the High Court delivered separate judgments. Kharche, J. held : "We, therefore, hold that the Caste Scrutiny Committee as well as the Commissioner were not justified and, as a matter of law, had no competence to go into the question by holding an enquiry t....
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....i) No enquiry is permissible as to the entries in respect of the castes/tribes in the Schedules of the Presidential Orders. We have to take them as they are, as mandated in the Milind Katware's case, without adding or substracting anything from the entires. (ii) The claimant has to prove his claim to belong to a particular caste/tribe to be able to get the benefits of the reservation policy. (iii) The claimant must establish his right by producing proper documentary evidence. (iv) The claimant must physically enter in witness box and swear on oath." Referring to the object and purport of the Maharashtra Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, De-notified Tribes (Vimukta Jatis), Nomadic Tribes, Other Backward Classes and Special Backward Category (Regulation of issuance and verification of) Caste Certificate Act, 2000, it was directed : (a) Considering the importance of the subject matter involving most valuable right of either employment or education which is wholly dependent upon the Caste/Tribe Certificates, this job of Caste/Tribe Scrutiny should be assigned to trained Judicial Officers and not to bureaucrats who are not at all legally trained to decide and appreciate the....
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.... The short question which arises for consideration is as to whether the Caste Scrutiny Committee could go into the validity or otherwise of the certificate granted by the authorities. The High Court relied upon a decision of this Court in Palghat Jilla Thandan Samudhaya Samrakshna Samithi and Another v. State of Kerala and Another [(1994) 1 SCC 359] and some other decisions of this Court. We, with respect, do not agree with the conclusion of the High Court that no enquiry was permissible at all, once it is found that the person concerned in whose favour a certificate had been granted to be notified as a Scheduled Tribe. The question in regard to the purport and object for which such Committees are constituted came up for consideration before this Court in a large number of cases. In Kumari Madhuri Patil (supra), this Court directed constitution of such Caste Scrutiny Committees with a view to streamline the procedure for issuance of social status certificates, their scrutiny and approval. This Court observed : "Since the Scheduled Tribes are a nomadic class of citizens whose habitat being generally hilly regions or forests, results in their staying away from the mainstream of ....
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....ed their findings with unwarranted strictures on the approach rightly adopted by the Scrutiny Committee and the Additional Commissioner to be '(funny)' "obviously incorrect" and "queer reasoning". Admittedly the petitioner therein, in days preceding the Constitution, described himself in the service book as well as school leaving certificate as a Hindu Koli. The High Court also found that they were backward class but proceeded on the erroneous footing that Mahadeo Koli was introduced for the first time through 1976 Amendment Act and that, therefore, they were the genuine Scheduled Tribes entitled to the benefits. In view of the above, we cannot help holding that the reasoning of the High Court is wholly perverse and untenable." In State of Maharashtra v. Milind & Ors. [(2001) 1 SCC 4] it was held that Halba-Koshti having not been mentioned in the Scheduled Tribes Order, were not treated to be part of Halba, stating : "No doubt, it is true, the stand of the appellant as to the controversy relating to "Halba-Koshti" has been varying from time to time but in the view we have taken on Question 1, the circulars/ resolutions/instructions issued by the State Government from time to tim....
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....vant, the learned Senior Counsel, would place strong reliance on a decision of this Court in Palghat Jilla Thandan Samudhaya Samrakshna Samithi (supra) and in particular paragraphs 18 and 19 thereof, which read as under : "18. These judgments leave no doubt that the Scheduled Castes Order has to be applied as it stands and no enquiry can be held or evidence let in to determine whether or not some particular community falls within it or outside it. No action to modify the plain effect of the Scheduled Castes Order, except as contemplated by Article 341, is valid. 19. The Thandan community in the instant case having been listed in the Scheduled Castes Order as it now stands, it is not open to the State Government or, indeed, to this Court to embark upon an enquiry to determine whether a section of Ezhavas/Thiyyas which was called Thandan in the Malabar area of the State was excluded from the benefits of the Scheduled Castes Order." The said decision must be read in the light of factual matrix obtaining therein. Indisputably, Thandans are members Scheduled Tribe. An entry made under the Constitution (Scheduled Castes) Order, 1950 made in terms of Article 341 of the Constitution o....
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....r the Scheduled Castes Order needs amendment by appropriate legislation. Until the Scheduled Castes Order is amended, it must be obeyed as it reads and the State Government must treat Thandans throughout Kerala as members of the Scheduled Castes and issue community certificates accordingly." This Court therein was not dealing with a case where a certificate had been granted wrongly to him although he was not entitled thereto. The question yet again came up for consideration before a Constitution Bench of this Court in Milind (supra), wherein in no uncertain terms it was held that the as President had the benefit of consulting the States through the Governors of the States, no further enquiry as regards the correctness of the entries in the order was permissible in law. The Court further held : "2. The Scheduled Tribes Order must be read as it is. It is not even permissible to say that a tribe, sub-tribe, part of or group of any tribe or tribal community is synonymous to the one mentioned in the Scheduled Tribes Order if they are not so specifically mentioned in it." Reliance has also been placed on State of Maharashtra & Others v. Mana Adim Jamat Mandal (2006) 4 SCC 98]. The qu....
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....or obtaining an appointment, should not be allowed to get the benefit thereof. [See also Ram Saran v. I.G. of Police, CRPF & Ors. [2006 (2) SCALE 131], Employees State Insurance Corporation v. Distilleries & Chemical Mazdoor Union and Others [2006 (7) SCALE 171] and Sandeep Subhash Parate v. State of Maharashtra & Ors. [2006 (8) SCALE 503]. While there are decisions and decisions in regard to the ultimate relief granted in each case, we see no authority laying down a law that under no circumstances an enquiry would be impermissible in law. A serious attempt has been made before us to argue on the merit of the matter. The learned Senior Counsel made endeavours that we should go into the merit of the matter and set aside the order of the Caste Scrutiny Committee, as has been done by the High Court. We decline to do so. The High Court although allowed the writ petitions filed by Respondent herein, did not analyze the evidences relied upon by the Committee at all. It, as noticed hereinbefore, proceeded principally on the basis that no enquiry was permissible. We, therefore, are of the opinion that merit of the matter should be considered afresh by the High Court. We would, however,....