Bombay High Court
VISHAKHA DATTARAO SAKHARWADversusTHE STATE OF MAHARASHTRA THROUGH ITS PRINCIPAL SECRETARY AND OTHERS
- Disposal
- DISPOSED OFF
Holding
The Court quashed the Scrutiny Committee’s order and directed that validity certificates be issued to the petitioners as members of the Mannervarlu Scheduled Tribe.
Summary
Vishakha and Ganpat, niece and uncle, filed writ petitions challenging a Scrutiny Committee order that invalidated their claims of belonging to the Mannervarlu Scheduled Tribe. They relied on a prior judgment (Writ Petition No.11596 of 2023) that had granted conditional validity to distant relatives based on genealogical evidence. The petitioners submitted old documents from 1954 and 1956 showing their ancestors were members of the Mannervarlu tribe, and argued that their relationship to the earlier validity holder was undisputed. The State argued that contrary entries indicated the petitioners belonged to the Manner caste, not the Mannervarlu tribe, and that they had not proved the required relationship. The Court examined the genealogy, the earlier conditional validity, and the historic documents, finding the relationship undisputed and the evidence sufficient to establish tribal belonging. Consequently, the Court quashed the Scrutiny Committee’s order and directed issuance of validity certificates to the petitioners, making the validity co‑terminous with that of their blood‑relative relatives.
Issues considered
- Whether the Scrutiny Committee correctly invalidated the petitioners' claim to belong to the Mannervarlu Scheduled Tribe.
- Whether the petitioners are entitled to conditional validity certificates based on their relationship to a previously validated relative.
- Whether the Court should quash the Scrutiny Committee’s order and direct issuance of validity certificates.
Subjects
- Scheduled Tribe
- tribal status verification
- validity certificate
- Scrutiny Committee
- genealogical evidence
- quashing order
- conditional validity
Judgment
2026:BHC-AUG:3666-DB
(1)
966 WP-4275.2025 + 1.odt
IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT BOMBAY
BENCH AT AURANGABAD
966 WRIT PETITION NO. 4275 OF 2025
Vishakha d/o Dattarao Sakharwad
Age : 31 yrs, occ : service
R/o At Post Nandkheda,
District Parbhani Petitioner
Versus
1. The State of Maharashtra
2. Commissioner of State Tax
Goods and Services Tax Dept.,
Maharashtra State, Mumbai
3. Assistant Charity Commissioner
of State Tax, Goods and Services
Tax Department, Parbhani
4. Scheduled Tribe Certificate
Verification Committee,
Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar Respondents
WITH
WRIT PETITION NO. 4338 OF 20 2025
Ganpat s/o Kachruba Sakharwad
Age : 55 yrs, occ : service
R/o At Post Nandkheda,
Taluka and District Parbhani Petitioner
Versus
1. The State of Maharashtra
2. Deputy Director,
Vocational Education and
Training, Regional Office,
Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar
3. Industrial Training Institute
Kalamnuri, Dist. Hingoli
(2)
966 WP-4275.2025 + 1.odt
4. Scheduled Tribe Certificate
Verification Committee,
Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar Respondents
…
Mr. O.D. Totawad, Advocate holding for Mr. Chandrakant
Thorat, Advocate for the petitioners.
Mr. N.B. Patil, A.G.P. for respondents-State.
...
CORAM : SANDIPKUMAR C. MORE AND
ABASAHEB D. SHINDE, JJ.
DATED : 23 JANUARY 2026.
Oral Judgment (Per Abasaheb D. Shinde, J.) :
1. Heard.
2. Rule. Rule is made returnable forthwith. With consent
of the rival parties, writ petitions are taken up for final hearing
at the stage of admission.
3. By these writ petitions, the petitioners, who are niece
and uncle respectively, are challenging the common judgment
and order dated 19.03.2025 passed by respondent / Scrutiny
Committee by which tribe claims of the petitioners of belonging
to “Mannervarlu” Scheduled Tribe, have been invalidated.
4. Learned counsel for the petitioners submits that the
distant blood relatives namely Siddhant Sakharwad and
Samarth Sakharwad of the petitioners, whose tribe claims
were invalidated by the Scrutiny Committee, have challenged
the said order before this Court by filing Writ Petition
No.11596 of 2023 and this Court has allowed the said petition
(3)
966 WP-4275.2025 + 1.odt
partly by granting conditional validities to those petitioners
subject to proposed reopening of the validities on the basis of
which those petitioners have been granted conditional
validities. He also submits that the genealogy filed before the
Scrutiny Committee depicts the relationship of the petitioners
with those validity holders and there is no dispute about the
relationship. He, therefore, urged that the petitioners deserve
to be granted conditional validities.
5. Per contra, learned A.G.P. submits that the Scrutiny
Committee, after considering the fact that there are certain
contra entries showing that the petitioners do not belong to
“Mannervarlu” Scheduled Tribe as the old documents pertains
to “Manner” caste, has invalidated the tribe claim of the
petitioners. He, therefore, submits that since the petitioners
have failed to establish their relationship with the validity
holders as well as to substantiate that the petitioners belong to
“Mannervarlu” Scheduled Tribe, they are not entitled for
issuance of even conditional validities.
6. After having considered rival submissions advanced by
learned counsel for the petitioners as well as learned AGP, we
find that one Gangadhar Kishanrao Sakharwad is the original
validity holder whose validity has been relied upon by this
Court while granting conditional validities to the distant blood
(4)
966 WP-4275.2025 + 1.odt
relatives of the petitioners. This Court has also considered
oldest documents of 1954 as well as 1956 of the forefathers
showing that the petitioners therein belonged to “Mannervarlu”
Scheduled Tribe. We therefore find that since relationship of
the petitioners with those validity holders in Writ Petition No.
11596 of 2023 is not in dispute, we follow the same course and
pass the following order.
ORDER
(i) The writ petitions are allowed.
(ii) The impugned order dated 19.03.2025 passed
by respondent No.4/Scrutiny Committee is
hereby quashed and set aside.
(iii) Respondent/Scrutiny Committee is directed to
issue validity certificates to the petitioners of
belonging to “Mannervarlu” Scheduled Tribe.
(iv) The validity granted in favour of the petitioners
will be co-terminus with the validity certificates
of the blood relatives of the petitioners, whose
tribe claims are proposed to be reopened.
(ABASAHEB D. SHINDE) (SANDIPKUMAR C. MORE)
JUDGE JUDGE
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