TANAJI RAMLING KAMBLEversusTHE STATE OF MAHARASHTRA THR. PRINCIPAL SECRETARY TRIBAL DEVELOPMENT DEPT. AND ANR.

                                                      903-WP-3754-2026 (C)-J.doc


               IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT BOMBAY
                        CIRCUIT BENCH AT KOLHAPUR
                       CIVIL APPELLATE JURISDICTION

                      WRIT PETITION NO. 3754 OF 2026

Tanaji Ramling Kamble,
Age: 49 Years, Occu.: Serivce,
R/o. At Post Degaon, Taluka : Pandharpur,
District : Solapur – 413 304.                        ...Petitioner.

             Versus

1.      The State of Maharashtra,
        Through Principal Secretary,
        Tribal Development Department,
        Mantralaya, Mumbai – 400 032.

2.      The Schedule Tribe Caste Certiicate
        Veriication Committee, Pune Division,
        Pune – 411 001.                              ...Respondents.
                               ——————
Mr. Ratan L. Adhe for the Petitioner.
Ms. Tejas J. Kapre, AGP for the Respondents-State.
                                 ——————
                                   Coram :     Sharmila U. Deshmukh &
                                               Neeraj P. Dhote, JJ.
                          Reserved on :        September 11, 2026.
                        Pronounced on :        September 22, 2026.
JUDGMENT : (Per Neeraj P. Dhote, J.)

1.       With the consent of both the sides, heard inally at the admission

stage.

2.       The challenge in this writ petition is to the order dated 18 th June

2026 passed by the Respondent No.2-Scrutiny Committee invalidating




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the claim of the Petitioner towards 'Mahadev Koli' Scheduled Tribe. The

Petitioner claims to be belonging to the Koli Mahadev Scheduled Tribe.

The Competent Authority had issued the caste certiicate to that efect.

The Petitioner is pursuing his Diploma in Education. His tribe claim

came to be referred for veriication by the Principal of the Institute,

where he is pursuing the said course. In support of his tribe claim, the

Petitioner submitted as many as 33 documents of his blood relatives

from the paternal side.     The Respondent No.2–Scrutiny Committee

directed the inquiry through the Vigilance Cell.     The Vigilance Cell

submitted its report. The Petitioner was given opportunity of hearing.

After considering the documents on record, the Respondent No.2–

Scrutiny Committee passed the impugned order.

3.      It is submitted by learned counsel for the Petitioner that, the

Petitioner had submitted the pre-Constitution era documents of his

blood relatives, wherein the caste is mentioned as 'Mahadev Koli' and

the said documents are having more probative value. The Committee

discarded the said documents on the ground that, in the revenue

records of the ancestors of the Petitioner, the caste was mentioned as

'Koli'. The other grounds for invalidation of the claim are the ainity

test and area restrictions. He further submitted that the Respondent

No.2-Scrutiny Committee had invalidated the claim of Petitioner's full-

blood brother Santosh Ramling Kamble by order dated 7 th May 2026 on


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similar grounds and the said order was challenged in Writ Petition

No.2383 of 2026, which came to be allowed by this Court by Judgment

and Order dated 23rd July 2026 directing issuance of validity certiicate

to the Petitioner's brother. He submitted that, the petition be allowed.

4.       The learned AGP appearing for the Respondents supported the

impugned order. However, it is not disputed that the Petitioner's full-

blood brother is issued the validity certiicate towards 'Koli Mahadev'

Scheduled Tribe by the order of this Court in the aforesaid writ petition.

He relied on the decision in Apoorva d/o. Vinayak Nichale v. Divisional

Caste Certiicate Scrutiny Committee No.1, Nagpur and others,1

wherein it is observed that, fraud vitiates all solemn acts and when an

order has been obtained by practicing fraud on the Court, it would be a

nullity.

5.       We have perused the impugned order. It shows that, the

Petitioner relied on more than 30 documents in support of his tribe

claim. The description of the said documents is given in the chart in

paragraph 2 of the impugned order. Perusal of the said chart shows

that, some of the documents were of pre-Constitution era.              The

Respondent No.2-Scrutiny Committee relied on the report of the

Vigilance Cell to hold that, in certain documents of the blood relatives

of the Petitioner, there were corrections or interpolation in respect of

1    2010 (6) Mh.L.J. 401.


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the caste. The Respondent No.2-Scrutiny Committee also considered

that, in certain documents of the Petitioner's blood relatives, which

were collected by the Vigilance Cell, the caste was mentioned as 'Koli'.

The Committee, therefore, discarded the documents relied upon by the

Petitioner.

6.      The impugned order shows that, the Petitioner relied on the

decision of this Court in Writ Petition No.9246 of 2021 iled by his cousin

nephew-Hrishikesh Santosh Kamble, wherein the order of invalidation

of his tribe claim was set aside. The copy of the documents circulated

across the bar by the learned counsel for the Petitioner shows that, the

Respondent No.2–Scrutiny Committee had invalidated the claim of

Santosh Ramling Kamble, full-blood brother of the Petitioner, towards

the Koli Mahadev Scheduled Tribe by order dated 7 th May 2026 on

similar grounds and the said decision of the Respondent No. 2-Scrutiny

Committee was challenged in Writ Petition No.2383 of 2026, which was

allowed by order dated 23rd July 2026. The copy of the said order is also

tendered across the bar by the learned counsel for the Petitioner. There

is no dispute in respect of the said order invalidating the tribe claim of

the Petitioner's full-blood brother and the decision of this Court. On

going through the order dated 7 th May 2026 in respect of the

Petitioner's full-blood brother-Santosh Ramling Kamble goes to show

that, on identical grounds and reasons, the Respondent No.2-Scrutiny


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Committee invalidated the Petitioner's tribe claim. Both the orders

passed by the Respondent No.2-Scrutiny Committee goes to show that,

the Petitioner and his full-blood brother had relied on the similar

documents in support of their tribe claims and the Vigilance Cell inquiry

in both the cases had submitted the report with similar observations.

Perusal of the said order dated 23 rd July 2026 goes to show that, after

hearing both the sides and considering the pre-Constitution era

documents in respect of grandfather and paternal ancestors of the

Petitioner, wherein the caste was mentioned as ‘Mahadev Koli’, this

Court allowed the petition. This Court considered the decisions in the

case of Sayanna v. State of Maharashtra,2 Apoorva d/o Vinayak

Nichale (supra) and Anand v. Committee for Scrutiny and Veriication

of Tribe Claims & Ors.3 and set aside the order impugned therein. This

Court also considered the aspect that though the Committee treated

the school entry as suspicious on the ground that it appears to have

been written later in the same handwriting, but with diferent ink and

observed that, such a inding of interpolation cannot rest merely on

visual comparison.

7.       It is clear that, the reasons in the order invalidating the tribe claim

of the Petitioner's full-blood brother Santosh Ramling Kamble and the

order impugned in the petition are identical. There is no new ground in

2    2010 (1) ALL MR 957 (SC).
3    2012 (1) SCC 113.


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                        the impugned order.        When once this Court considered the similar

                        grounds invalidating the tribe claim of the Petitioner's full-blood

                        brother and directed issuance of validity certiicate to the Petitioner's

                        full-blood brother, the Petitioner is entitled for the validity certiicate

                        towards the ‘Koli Mahadev’ Scheduled Tribe. In the backdrop of the

                        above directions, the impugned order is unsustainable and liable to be

                        quashed and set aside and hence, the following order:

                                                            ORDER

                              i)     The Writ Petition is allowed.

                              ii)    The impugned order dated 18th June 2026 passed by

                                     Respondent     No.2–Scrutiny      Committee   invalidating     the

                                     Petitioner's tribe claim towards 'Koli Mahadev' Scheduled

                                     Tribe is quashed and set aside.

                              iii)   The Respondent No.2–Scrutiny Committee is directed to issue

                                     the validity certiicate to the Petitioner as belonging to the

                                     'Koli Mahadev' Scheduled Tribe within a period of two weeks.

                              iv)    The Writ Petition accordingly stands disposed of.



                         [Neeraj P. Dhote, J.]                          [Sharmila U. Deshmukh, J.]

           Digitally
           signed by
           RAJU
RAJU       DATTATRAYA
DATTATRAYA GAIKWAD
GAIKWAD    Date:
           2026.09.22
           18:03:18
           +0530




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