Full Judgment Text
http://JUDIS.NIC.IN SUPREME COURT OF INDIA Page 1 of 13
PETITIONER:
KUMARI MADHURI PATIL
Vs.
RESPONDENT:
ADDL. COMMISSIONER
DATE OF JUDGMENT02/09/1994
BENCH:
RAMASWAMY, K.
BENCH:
RAMASWAMY, K.
VENKATACHALA N. (J)
CITATION:
1995 AIR 94 1994 SCC (6) 241
JT 1994 (5) 488 1994 SCALE (3)935
ACT:
HEADNOTE:
JUDGMENT:
The Judgment of the Court was delivered by
K. RAMASWAMY, J.- Leave granted.
2. The appellants are Suchita and Madhuri, daughters of
Laxman Pandurang Patil. Their grandfather was Panduranga
Patil. Laxman Patil was admitted in the school in the year
1943. In his school admission register and his school and
college certificates his caste was shown as ’Hindu Koli’.
Suchita had applied through her father, Laxman Patil to the
Tahsildar, Andheri on 30-11-1989 for issuance of caste
certificate as ’Mahadeo Koli’ a Scheduled Tribe. The Sub-
Divisional Officer, Bombay Suburban District by his
proceeding dated 22-6-1989 refused to issue caste
certificate sought for by Ms Suchita and informed her that
she was not a Scheduled Tribe ’Mahadeo Koli’. She filed an
appeal before the Additional Commissioner, Konkan Division,
Bombay. As she had applied for admission into the MBBS
course and the time for her admission was running out, she
filed Writ Petition No. 3516 of 1990 in the High Court to
direct the Additional Commissioner to dispose of her appeal
and to further direct to the Dean of D.YC. Naik Medical
College to permit her to appear for interview and admit her
in the college if she was found fit. It is not in dispute
that she filed a
247
copy of the judgment in Subhash Ganpatrao Kabade v. State Of
Maharashtra1, wherein ’Koli’ was held to be ’Mahadeo Koli’,
before the Additional Commissioner and also in the High
Court. Because of the directions of the High Court she was
admitted in the MBBS course and she is continuing her
studies. The Additional Commissioner directed the Tahsildar
to issue the certificate and accordingly issued to Miss
Suchita the certificate as Scheduled Tribe. Miss Suchita
applied to the Verification Committee for confirmation of
her status as Scheduled Tribe. Madhuri applied for the
issuance of Scheduled Tribe certificate before the
http://JUDIS.NIC.IN SUPREME COURT OF INDIA Page 2 of 13
Divisional Executive Magistrate, Greater Bombay, enclosing
the order passed by the High Court in Writ Petition No. 3516
of 1990, dated 4-12-1990, in favour of her sister Suchita,
which was issued on 23-8-1990 declaring her status to be
’Mahadeo Koli’ and then she got the admission into BDS in
the year 1992. Thereafter, she applied to the Verification
Committee for confirmation. The proceeding by the
Verification Committee was jointly conducted into the claims
of the appellants, initiated on 8-12-1989, the father of the
appellants was called upon to furnish in the prescribed form
the detailed information regarding his family background,
ancestry; and anthropology of ’Mahadeo Koli’, Scheduled
Tribe, to verify the veracity of his claim of status as ST.
3. ’Mahadeo Koli’ was declared to be a Scheduled Tribe by
Bombay Province as early as 1933 and the President of India
declared in 1950 under Article 342, in consultation with the
Government of Bombay (Maharashtra) and as amended from time
to time. Laxman submitted the particulars along with his
school and college certificates, junior college certificate
and school certificates of the appellants, the certificates
of his sister and appellants’ maternal aunt, Jyotsana
Pandurang Patil dated 3-3-1978 and maternal uncle
Balakrishna Pandurang Naik dated 22-10-1954 and a statement
by the Caste Association. The Committee in their order
dated 26-6-1992 considered the entire evidence placed before
them, the particulars furnished by their father in the pro
forma on their ancestry and other anthropological
particulars and after hearing their counsel, found that the
appellants are ’Koli’ by caste which is recognised as Other
Backward Class, i.e., OBC in the State and that they are not
’Mahadeo Koli’, the Scheduled Tribe and their claim for that
social status was accordingly declared untenable. The
certificates issued by the respective Executive Magistrates
were cancelled and confiscated. Their appeal provided under
the Rules too was heard by the Additional Commissioner in
Caste Appeal No. 11 of 1992 who by an elaborate order dated
30-4-1993 found that the certificate issued in favour of
Balakrishna Pandurang Naik, maternal uncle, was from a
Magistrate, Greater Bombay, who had no jurisdiction and was
issued social status certificate without proper scrutiny.
The certificate issued to Jyotsana by the Judicial
Magistrate was on the basis of the school leaving
certificate, ration card etc. and that, therefore, it does
not provide any probative value to their status as Scheduled
1 WP No. 438 of 1985
248
Tribe, the entries in school and college certificates of the
appellants are not conclusive.
4.It is obvious that Judicial Magistrate has no jurisdiction
to issue caste certificate and it is a void certificate.
The entries in the school certificate of the father of the
appellants, Laxman Patil, being pre-independence period, it
bears "great probative value" wherein he declared himself to
be ’Hindu Koli’ which is now recognised as a backward class.
The caste affirmation certificate issued by the Samaj "Caste
Association" consists of these very communities who seek to
get the status as Scheduled Tribes. It also does not,
therefore, bear any probative value. School certificates
and college certificates in favour of the appellants are the
subject of enquiry, therefore,do notbear any value and
independently their status is to be considered.
5.The Committee as well as the Additional Commissioner
relied upon a reportof expert committee which had gone
into the sociology, anthropology and ethnology of the
Scheduled Tribes including ’Mahadeo Koli’ which formed the
http://JUDIS.NIC.IN SUPREME COURT OF INDIA Page 3 of 13
basis for the pro forma questionnaire prepared by the
Government and as given to and answered by the father of the
appellants. On the basis of the information furnished by
the father of the appellants and the anthropological and
ethnological findings in that behalf, the Additional
Commissioner, in our view rightly, held that an argument of
social mobility and modernisation often alluringly put forth
to obviate the need to pass the affinity test is only a
convenient plea to get over the crux of the question.
Despite the cultural advancement, the genetic traits pass on
from generation to generation and no one could escape or
forget or get them over. The tribal customs are peculiar to
each tribe or tribal communities and are still being
maintained and preserved. Their cultural advancement to
some extent may have modernised and progressed but they
would not be oblivious to or ignorant of their customary and
cultural past to establish their affinity to the membership
of a particular tribe. The Mahadeo Koli, a Scheduled Tribe
declared in the Presidential Notification, 1950, itself is a
tribe and is not a sub-caste. It is a hill tribe, may be
like ’Koya’ in Andhra Pradesh. Kolis, a backward class, are
fishermen by caste and profession and reside mostly in
Maharashtra coastal area. Kolis have different sub-castes.
Mahadeo Kolis reside in hill regions, agriculture,
agricultural labour and gathering of minor forest produce
and sale thereof is their avocation. Therefore, the
cancellation of the social certificate issued by the
Executive Magistrates concerned by the Scrutiny Committee
was legal.
6. The appellants’ Writ Petition No. 1849 of 1993 was
dismissed by the Division Bench by its order dated 17-8-1993
with brief reasons. Shri Ganesh, the learned counsel for
the appellants contended that in the affidavit filed by the
appellant’s father before the Verification Committee he has
explained the circumstances in which he came to be described
as Hindu Koli. Prior to 1950, there was no necessity to
describe sub-caste. For the first time in 1976 under the
Scheduled Castes Scheduled Tribes (Amendment) Act, 1976,
Mahadeo Koli was introduced as a Scheduled Tribe in the
State of Maharashtra. The certificates issued to the
maternal uncle Balakrishna Naik
249
as Mahadeo Koli in the year 1954 and entries in his service
record and to maternal aunt, Jyotsana in the year 1979
probabilise the omission to describe Laxman Patil as Mahadeo
Koli, though they, as a fact, belong to Scheduled Tribe. In
the school registers the appellants had enjoyed the status
as Scheduled Tribe which provides probative value. The
Committee, the Additional Commissioner and the High Court
had not appreciated the evidence in proper perspective
before declining to confirm the social status of the
appellants as Scheduled Tribes and the High Court ought to
have gone into these aspects as was done in Subhash
Ganpatrao Kabade casel. it is further contended that Suchita
has completed her final year course of study. Madhuri is in
midway and that, therefore, justice demands that their
education should not be dislocated with the denial of the
social status as Scheduled Tribes. The sheet-anchor for the
counsel’s argument is the judgment of the Division Bench of
the Bombay High Court in Subhash Ganpatrao Kabade case’. We
find no force in the contentions.
7. From the counter-affidavit filed by the State which has
not been disputed by filing any rejoinder and as is borne
out from the public notification issued by the President in
the year 1950 in exercise of the power under Article 342
http://JUDIS.NIC.IN SUPREME COURT OF INDIA Page 4 of 13
read with Article 366(25) of the Constitution that Mahadeo
Koli is declared as a Scheduled Tribe. Article 366(25)
defines Scheduled Tribes, as meaning such tribes or tribal
communities or parts of or groups within such tribes or
tribal communities as are declared under Article 342 to be
Scheduled Tribes for the purposes of the Constitution.
Article 342 gives power to the President to specify the
tribe with respect to any State or Union Territory, after
consultation with the Governor where it is a State, by
public notification, specify the tribes or tribal
communities or parts of or groups within tribes or tribal
communities which shall, for the purposes of the
Constitution, be deemed to be Scheduled Tribes in relation
to that State or Union Territory, as the case may be.
8. In Marri Chandra Shekhar Rao v. Dean, Seth G.S. Medical
College2, this Court declared that subject to the law made
by Parliament under sub-section (2) of Section 342, the
tribes or tribal communities or parts of or groups within
tribes or tribal communities specified by the President by a
public notification shall be final for the purpose of the
Constitution. They are the tribes in relation to that State
or Union Territory and that any tribe or tribes or tribal
communities or parts of or groups within such tribe or
tribal communities, not specified therein in relation to
that State, shall not be Scheduled Tribes for the purpose of
the Constitution. The father of one Chandra Shekhar Rao who
hailed from Tenali in Guntur District of Andhra Pradesh is a
Settibalija by caste which is recognised as a backward
class. His father obtained a certificate from the
Tahsildar, Tenali that he belonged to Scheduled Tribe and
had got an appointment in a public undertaking of Bombay.
On the basis of social status certificate obtained by his
father and entries in service record of his father, he
applied for admission into medical
2 (1990) 3 SCC 130: (1990) 14 ATC 671
250
college as Scheduled Tribe. When he was not admitted, he
filed the writ petition in this Court under Article 32
seeking a declaration that Settibalija though was not
declared to be Scheduled Tribe in Maharashtra it was a
Scheduled Tribe for the purpose of the Constitution and that
he was entitled to the admission into the medical college on
the basis of his social status as a Scheduled Tribe. This
Court did not uphold the contention. This Court held that
the declaration by the President by a public notification in
relation to a State in consultation with the Governor of
that State is conclusive and court cannot give such a
declaration. The same view was reiterated by another
Constitution Bench in Action Committee on issue of Caste
Certificate to SCs and STs in the State of Maharashtra v.
Union of India3.
9. The Preamble to the Constitution promises to secure to
every citizen social and economic justice, equality of
status and of opportunity assuring the dignity of the
individual. The Scheduled Tribes are inhabitants of
intractable terrain regions of the country kept away from
the mainstream of national life and with their traditional
moorings and customary beliefs and practices, they are
largely governed by their own customary code of conduct
regulated from time to time with their own rich cultural
heritage, mode of worship and cultural ethos. The
Constitution guarantees to them, who are also Indian
citizens, equality before law and the equal protection of
law. Though Articles 14 and 15(1) prohibit discrimination
among citizens on certain grounds, Article 15(4) empowers
http://JUDIS.NIC.IN SUPREME COURT OF INDIA Page 5 of 13
the State to make special provisions for advancement of
Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes. Article 16(1)
requires equality of opportunity to all citizens in matters
of appointments to an office or a post under the Union or a
State Government or public undertakings etc. But Article
16(4) empowers the State to make provision for reservation
of appointments or posts in favour of classes of citizens
not adequately represented in the services under the State.
Article 46 enjoins the State by mandatory language employed
therein, to promote with special care the educational or
economic interest of the Scheduled Tribes and Scheduled
Castes and to protect them from "social injustice" and "all
forms of exploitation". Article 51-A(h) enjoins every
citizen to develop scientific temper, humanism and the
spirit of inquiry and reform. Again Article 51-A(h)
requires every citizen to strive towards excellence in all
spheres of individual and collective activity so that the
nation constantly rises to higher levels of endeavour and
achievement. It is, therefore, a fundamental duty of every
citizen to develop scientific temper and humanism and spirit
of inquiry to reform himself in his onward thrust or strive
to achieve excellence in all spheres of individual and
collective activity. 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 the national life. Therefore, the State
is enjoined under our Constitution to provide facilities and
opportunities for development of their scientific temper,
educational advancement and economic improvement so that
they may achieve
3 (1994) 5 SCC 244
251
excellence, equality of status and live with dignity.
Reservation in admission to educational institutions and
employment are major State policies to accord to the tribes,
social and economic justice apart from other economic
measures. Hence, the tribes, by reason of State’s policy of
reservation, have been given the exclusive right to
admission into educational institutions or exclusive right
to employment to an office or post under the State etc. to
the earmarked quota. For availment of such exclusive rights
by citizens belonging to tribes, the President by a
notification specified the Scheduled Tribes or tribal
communities or parts of or groups of tribes or tribal
communities so as to entitle them to avail of such exclusive
rights. The Union of India and the State Governments have
prescribed the procedure and have entrusted duty and
responsibility to Revenue Officers of gazetted cadre to
issue social status certificate, after due verification. It
is common knowledge that endeavour of States to fulfil
constitutional mandate of upliftment of Scheduled Castes and
Scheduled Tribes by providing for reservation of seats in
educational institutions and for reservation of posts and
appointments, are sought to be denied to them by
unscrupulous persons who come forward to obtain the benefit
of such reservations posing themselves as persons entitled
to such status while in fact disentitled to such status. The
case in hand is a clear instance of such pseudo-status.
Kolis have been declared to be OBC in the State of
Maharashtra being fishermen, in that their avocation is
fishing and they live mainly in the coastal region of
Maharashtra. Mahadeo Kolis are hill tribes and it is not a
sub-caste. Even prior to independence, the Maharashtra
Government declared Mahadeo Koli to be criminal tribe as
early as 29-5-1933 in Serial No. 15 in List II thereof. In
http://JUDIS.NIC.IN SUPREME COURT OF INDIA Page 6 of 13
1942 Resolution in Serial No. 15 in Schedule B of the Bombay
resolution Mahadeo Koli tribe was notified as a Scheduled
Tribe. It was later amended as Serial No. 13. In the
Presidential Scheduled Castes/Scheduled Tribes Order, 1950,
it was reiterated. A slight modification was made in that
behalf by the Presidential Notification dated 29-10-1956. In
the 1976 Amendment Act, there is no substantial change
except removing the area restriction. Thus Mahadeo Koli, a
Scheduled Tribe continued to be a Scheduled Tribe even after
independence. The Presidential Notification, 1950 also does
recognise by public notification of their status as
Scheduled Tribes. The assumption of the Division Bench of
the Bombay High Court in Subhash Ganpatrao Kabade case’,
that Mahadeo Koli was recognised for the first time in 1976
under Amendment Act, 1976, as Scheduled Tribe is not
relatable to reality and an erroneous assumption made
without any attempt to investigate the truth in that behalf.
Presidential declaration, subject to amendment by Parliament
being conclusive, no addition to it or declaration of
castes/tribes or sub-castes/parts of or groups of tribes or
tribal communities is permissible.
10. The entries in the school register preceding the
Constitution do furnish great probative value to the
declaration of the status of a caste. Hierarchical caste
stratification of Hindu social order has its reflection in
all entries in the public records. What would, therefore,
depict the caste status of the people inclusive of the
school or college records, as the then census rules
252
insisted upon. Undoubtedly, Hindu social order is based on
hierarchy and caste was one of the predominant factors
during pre-Constitution period. Unfortunately instead of
dissipating its incursion it is being needlessly
accentuated, perpetrated and stratification is given
legitimacy for selfish ends instead of being discouraged and
put an end to by all measures, including administrative and
legislative. Be it as it may, people are identified by
their castes for one or the other is a reality. Therefore,
it is no wonder that caste is reflected in relevant entries
in the public records or school or college admission
register at the relevant time and the certificates are
issued on its basis. The father of the appellants admittedly
described himself in 1943 and thereafter as a Hindu Koli. In
other words his status was declared a Koli by caste and
Hindu by religion. Kolis are admittedly OBCs. His feigned
ignorance of the ancestry is too hard to believe. The
averment in the affidavit that the entries were mistakenly
made as Hindu Koli is an obvious afterthought. The
anthropological moorings and ethnological kinshipaffirmity
(sic) gets genetically ingrained in the blood and no one
would shake off from past, in particular, when one is
conscious of the need of preserving its relevance to seek
the status of Scheduled Tribe or Scheduled Caste recognised
by the Constitution for their upliftment in the society. The
ingrained tribal traits peculiar to each tribe and
anthropological features all the more become relevant when
the social status is in acute controversy and needs a
decision. The correct projectives furnished in pro forma and
the material would lend credence and give an assurance to
properly consider the claims of the social status and the
officer or authority concerned would get an opportunity to
test the claim for social status of particular caste or
tribe or tribal community or group or part of such caste,
tribe or tribal community. It or he would reach a
satisfactory conclusion on the claimed social status. The
http://JUDIS.NIC.IN SUPREME COURT OF INDIA Page 7 of 13
father of the appellant has failed to satisfy the crucial
affinity test which is relevant and germane one. On the
other hand the entries in his school and college registers
as Hindu Koli positively belies the claim of his social
status as Scheduled Tribe.
11.It is seen that admittedly the appellants reside in
Muland area. In the first instance Suchita rightly
approached the Tahsildar having jurisdiction over the area
concerned who refused to give her social status certificate
as Mahadeo Koli, she filed an appeal and the High Court
directed the Deputy Commissioner to dispose of the appeal
who in turn without deciding the facts, directed the
Tahsildar to issue the certificate. In the meanwhile she
had, by orders of the court, got admission into the college
and pursued her study. The Caste Certificate Scrutiny
Committee, consists of the Secretary as Chairman and two
members, and a Research Officer-cum-Director who have
intimate knowledge in the identification of the specified
tribes, considered the entire material. The Committee has
stated and as is seen that the appellant’s father clearly
accepted that his caste is recorded in the college as well
as secondary school and college records as Hindu Koli only.
This fact is strengthened by the candidate’s father’s school
record (document at Serial No. 1). In the new English
School locality at Thane, the name of the
253
candidate’s father appeared in the admission register at
Serial No. 3733, and the caste clearly shown there was as H.
Koli. This school record, comparatively, is not only oldest
but it being the record pertaining to candidate’s father’s
admission to school prior to independence, it carries
greatest probative evidentiary value, The caste of the
person, as stated earlier, is determined on the basis of the
caste of their parents, basically for the reasons that the
caste is acquired by birth. When the school record of the
candidate’s father shows his caste as Koli, the documents
which the candidates have produced (documents quoted at
Serial Nos. 3, 5 to 8, 11, 13 to 16) showing their caste as
Mahadeo Koli cannot be relied upon. All these documents
furnished by the candidates are those manipulated and
fabricated with to knock of the seats in educational
institutions defrauding the true Scheduled Tribes to their
detriment and deprivation. As the school record of the
candidate’s father shows his caste as ’Koli’, the caste
certificates which have been issued to the appellants and
their relatives by the Executive Magistrate, Greater Bombay
(documents at Serial Nos. 9, 10, 12, 17 to 19) are without
proper enquiry and investigation, besides being without
jurisdiction. Its reiteration in service record would not
carry any credibility or a ground to accept the caste as
Scheduled Tribe. The caste certificate issued by Samaj
being self-serving and subject to scrutiny, they cannot be
held to be conclusive proof to determine the caste claim.
The finding recorded by the Committee is based on
consideration of the entire material together with
sociological, anthropological and ethnological perspectives
which Mahadeo Kolis enjoy and of the OBC castes and sub-
caste of the Kolis. The Additional Commissioner as well,
has minutely gone into all the material details and found
that when a section of the society have started asserting
themselves as tribes and try to earn the concession and
facilities reserved for the Scheduled Tribes, the tricks are
common and that, therefore, must be judged on legal and
ethnological basis. Spurious tribes have become a threat to
the genuine tribals and the present case is a typical
http://JUDIS.NIC.IN SUPREME COURT OF INDIA Page 8 of 13
example of reservation of benefits given to the genuine
claimants being snatched away by spurious tribes. On
consideration of the evidence, as stated earlier, both the
Committee and the appellate authority found as a fact that
the appellants are not tribe ’Mahadeo Koli’ entitled to the
constitutional benefits. In Subhash Ganpatrao Kabade case’,
the approach of the Division Bench of the High Court appears
to be legalistic in the traditional mould totally oblivious
of the anthropological and ethnological perspectives and
recorded 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
254
the benefits. In view of the above, we cannot help holding
that the reasoning of the High Court is wholly perverse and
untenable.
12. We have seen that Scrutiny Committee proceedings
although started on 8-12-1989 were prolonged till 26-6-1992.
We do not have record to scan the reasons for the delay. It
would appear that the constitution of a Committee with large
number of members and Secretary as Chairman must have
greatly contributed for the delay in deciding the claims for
the social status. A right of appeal provided thereafter
compounded further delay though the Additional Commissioner
on the facts of this case has disposed of the appeal very
expeditiously. However, all of them are the contributory
factors for the delay.
13. The admission wrongly gained or appointment wrongly
obtained on the basis of false social status certificate
necessarily has the effect of depriving the genuine
Scheduled Castes or Scheduled Tribes or OBC candidates as
enjoined in the Constitution of the benefits conferred on
them by the Constitution. The genuine candidates are also
denied admission to educational institutions or appointments
to office or posts under a State for want of social status
certificate. The ineligible or spurious persons who falsely
gained entry resort to dilatory tactics and create hurdles
in completion of the inquiries by the Scrutiny Committee.
It is true that the applications for admission to
educational institutions are generally made by a parent,
since on that date many a time the student may be a minor.
It is the parent or the guardian who may play fraud claiming
false status certificate. It is, therefore, necessary that
the certificates issued are scrutinised at the earliest and
with utmost expedition and promptitude. For that purpose,
it is necessary to streamline the procedure for the issuance
of social status certificates, their scrutiny and their
approval, which may be the following:
1. The application for grant of social
status certificate shall be made to the
Revenue Sub-Divisional Officer and Deputy
Collector or Deputy Commissioner and the
certificate shall be issued by such officer
rather than at the Officer, Taluk or Mandal
level.
2. The parent, guardian or the candidate,
as the case may be, shall file an affidavit
http://JUDIS.NIC.IN SUPREME COURT OF INDIA Page 9 of 13
duly sworn and attested by a competent
gazetted officer or non-gazetted officer with
particulars of castes and sub-castes, tribe,
tribal community, parts or groups of tribes or
tribal communities, the place from which he
originally hails from and other particulars as
may be prescribed by the Directorate
concerned.
3. Application for verification of the
caste certificate by the Scrutiny Committee
shall be filed at least six months in advance
before seeking admission into educational
institution or an appointment to a post.
4. All the State Governments shall
constitute a Committee of three officers,
namely, (1) an Additional or Joint Secretary
or any officer higher in rank of the Director
of the department concerned, (11) the
Director, Social Welfare/Tribal
Welfare/Backward Class Welfare, as the case
may be, and (III) in the case of Scheduled
Castes another officer who has
255
intimate knowledge in the verification and
issuance of the social status certificates.
In the case of the Scheduled Tribes, the
Research Officer who has intimate knowledge in
identifying the tribes, tribal communities,
parts of or groups of tribes or tribal
communities.
5. Each Directorate should constitute a
vigilance cell consisting of Senior Deputy
Superintendent of Police in over-all charge
and such number of Police Inspectors to
investigate into the social status claims.
The Inspector would go to the local place of
residence and original place from which the
candidate hails and usually resides or in case
of migration to the town or city, the place
from which he originally hailed from. The
vigilance officer should personally verify and
collect all the facts of the social status
claimed by the candidate or the parent or
guardian, as the case may be. He should also
examine the school records, birth
registration, if any. He should also examine
the parent, guardian or the candidate in
relation to their caste etc. or such other
persons who have knowledge of the social
status of the candidate and then submit a
report to the Directorate together with all
particulars as envisaged in the pro forma, in
particular, of the Scheduled Tribes relating
to their peculiar anthropological and
ethnological traits, deity, rituals, customs,
mode of marriage, death ceremonies, method of
burial of dead bodies etc. by the castes or
tribes or tribal communities concerned etc.
6. The Director concerned, on receipt of
the report from the vigilance officer if he
found the claim for social status to be "not
genuine" or ’doubtful’ or spurious or falsely
or wrongly claimed, the Director concerned
should issue show-cause notice supplying a
copy of the report of the vigilance officer to
http://JUDIS.NIC.IN SUPREME COURT OF INDIA Page 10 of 13
the candidate by a registered post with
acknowledgement due or through the head of the
educational institution concerned in which the
candidate is studying or employed. The notice
should indicate that the representation or
reply, if any, would be made within two weeks
from the date of the receipt of the notice and
in no case on request not more than 30 days
from the date of the receipt of the notice.
In case, the candidate seeks for an
opportunity of hearing and claims an inquiry
to be made in that behalf, the Director on
receipt of such representation/reply shall
convene the committee and the Joint/Additional
Secretary as Chairperson who shall give
reasonable opportunity to the
candidate/parent/guardian to adduce all
evidence in support of their claim. A public
notice by beat of drum or any other convenient
mode may be published in the village or
locality and if any person or association
opposes such a claim, an opportunity to adduce
evidence may be given to him/it. After giving
such opportunity either in person or through
counsel, the Committee may make such inquiry
as it deems expedient and consider the claims
vis-a-vis the objections raised by the
candidate or opponent and pass an appropriate
order with brief reasons in support thereof.
7. In case the report is in favour of the
candidate and found to be genuine and true, no
further action need be taken except where the
report
256
or the particulars given are procured or found
to be false or fraudulently obtained and in
the latter event the same procedure as is
envisaged in para 6 be followed.
8. Notice contemplated in para 6 should be
issued to the parents/guardian also in case
candidate is minor to appear before the
Committee with all evidence in his or their
support of the claim for the social status
certificates.
9. The inquiry should be completed as
expeditiously as possible preferably by
day-to-day proceedings within such period not
exceeding two months. If after inquiry, the
Caste Scrutiny Committee finds the claim to be
false or spurious, they should pass an order
cancelling the certificate issued and
confiscate the same. It should communicate
within one month from the date of the
conclusion of the proceedings the result of
enquiry to the parent/guardian and the
applicant.
10. In case of any delay in finalising the
proceedings, and in the meanwhile the last
date for admission into an educational
institution or appointment to an officer post,
is getting expired, the candidate be admitted
by the Principal or such other authority
competent in that behalf or appointed on the
basis of the social status certificate already
issued or an affidavit duly sworn by the
http://JUDIS.NIC.IN SUPREME COURT OF INDIA Page 11 of 13
parent/guardian/candidate before the competent
officer or non-official and such admission or
appointment should be only provisional,
subject to the result of the inquiry by the
Scrutiny Committee.
11. The order passed by the Committee shall
be final and conclusive only subject to the
proceedings under Article 226 of the
Constitution.
12. No suit or other proceedings before any
other authority should lie.
13. The High Court would dispose of these
cases as expeditiously as possible within a
period of three months. In case, as per its
procedure, the writ petition/miscellaneous
petition/matter is disposed of by a Single
Judge, then no further appeal would lie
against that order to the Division Bench but
subject to special leave under Article 136.
14. In case, the certificate obtained or
social status claimed is found to be false,
the parent/guardian/the candidate should be
prosecuted for making false claim. If the
prosecution ends in a conviction and sentence
of the accused, it could be regarded as an
offence involving moral turpitude,
disqualification for elective posts or offices
under the State or the Union or elections to
any local body, legislature or Parliament.
15. As soon as the finding is recorded by the
Scrutiny Committee holding that the
certificate obtained was false, on its
cancellation and confiscation simultaneously,
it should be communicated to the educational
institution concerned or the appointing
authority by registered post with
acknowledgement due with a request to cancel
the admission or the appointment. The
Principal etc. of the educational institution
responsible for making the admission or the
appointing
257
authority, should cancel the
admission/appointment without any further
notice to the candidate and debar the
candidate from further study or continue in
office in a post.
14. Since this procedure could be fair and just and shorten
the undue delay and also prevent avoidable expenditure for
the State on the education of the candidate
admitted/appointed on false social status or further
continuance therein, every State concerned should endeavour
to give effect to it and see that the constitutional
objectives intended for the benefit and advancement of the
genuine Scheduled Castes/Scheduled Tribes or backward
classes, as the case may be are not defeated by
unscrupulous persons.
15. The question then is whether the approach adopted by
the High Court in not elaborately considering the case is
vitiated by an error of law. High Court is not a court of
appeal to appreciate the evidence. The Committee which is
empowered to evaluate the evidence placed before it when
records a finding of fact, it ought to prevail unless found
vitiated by judicial review of any High Court subject to
limitations of interference with findings of fact. The
http://JUDIS.NIC.IN SUPREME COURT OF INDIA Page 12 of 13
Committee when considers all the material facts and records
a finding, though another view, as a court of appeal may be
possible, it is not a ground to reverse the findings. The
court has to see whether the Committee considered all the
relevant material placed before it or has not applied its
mind to relevant facts which have led the Committee
ultimately record the finding. Each case must be considered
in the backdrop of its own facts.
16. Whether appellants are entitled to their further
continuance in the studies is the further question. Often
the plea of equities or promissory estoppel would be put
forth for continuance and completion of further course of
studies and usually would be found favour with the courts.
The courts have constitutional duty and responsibility, in
exercise of the power of its judicial review, to see that
constitutional goals set down in the Preamble, the
Fundamental Rights and the Directive Principles of the
Constitution, are achieved. A party that seeks equity, must
come with clean hands. He who comes to the court with false
claim, cannot plead equity nor the court would be justified
to exercise equity jurisdiction in his favour. There is no
estoppel as no promise of the social status is made by the
State when a false plea was put forth for the social status
recognised and declared by the Presidential Order under the
Constitution as amended by the SC & ST (Amendment) Act,
1976, which is later found to be false. Therefore, the plea
of promissory estoppel or equity have no application. When
it is found to be a case of fraud played by the concerned,
no sympathy and equitable considerations can come to his
rescue. Nor the plea of estoppel is germane to the
beneficial constitutional concessions and opportunities
given to the genuine tribes or castes. Courts would be
circumspect and vary in considering such cases.
17. We have seen that Miss Suchita rightly made an
application before the competent officer within whose
jurisdiction her father lives in Muland and when he refused
to give the certificate, she filed an appeal; approached the
High Court and obtained direction and gained admission. It
is not in
258
dispute that the Additional Commissioner was delaying it; he
did not decide as directed by the High Court, instead
directed the Tahsildar to issue the certificate. Thus she
secured a false social status certificate and orders of the
court were used to gain admission. The judicial process is
made use of to secure admission. She continued her studies
thereafter pending scrutiny of her status certificate. No
doubt there was a delay on the part of the Scrutiny
Committee in the disposal of the claims and we do not find
any record to scan the reasons for the delay. Suffice to
state that her parents have put her under a cloud as to her
social status. But as seen from the facts a course of
conduct was adopted by her parents to gain admission on the
claim which is now found to be false. Parents’ misconduct
visits the children also many a times. However, she has now
completed the course of study except to appear for the final
year as contended for her and nothing more is to be done in
the situation for her to complete her course of study. We
direct the Principal to permit her to sit for the final year
examination, if she has completed the course of study as
represented to us but not with the social status as a
Scheduled Tribe which was claimed fraudulently and made her
admission with the aid of the court’s order and continue her
studies. The delay in disposal facilitated her continuance
in study of MBBS course.
http://JUDIS.NIC.IN SUPREME COURT OF INDIA Page 13 of 13
18. The delay in the process is inevitable but that factor
should neither be considered to be relevant nor be an aid to
complete the course of study. But for the fact that she has
completed the entire course except to appear for the final
examination, we would have directed to debar her from
prosecuting the studies and appearing in the examination.
In this factual situation no useful purpose would be served
to debar her from appearing for the examination of final
year MBBS. Therefore, we uphold the cancellation of the
social status as Mahadeo Koli fraudulently obtained by Km
Suchita Laxman Patil, but she be allowed to appear for the
final year examination of MBBS course. She will not,
however be entitled in future for any benefits on the basis
of the fraudulent social status as Mahadeo Koli. However,
this direction should not be treated and used as a precedent
in future cases to give any similar directions since the
same defeats constitutional goals.
19. In the case of Madhuri Laxman Patil, she did not
approach the competent officer. She appears to have wrongly
gone to an officer who had no jurisdiction, obviously she
has shown the order issued by the High Court in favour of
her sister Suchita and secured the certificate and got the
admission. Though she is in midway of her study in BDS in
the end of second year, she cannot continue her studies with
her social status as Mahadeo Koli, a Scheduled Tribe and the
concessions which she might have got on that account. If
she was eligible for obtaining admission as a general
candidate she may continue her studies. Therefore, we
uphold the cancellation and confiscation of her and of
Suchita of social status as Mahadeo Koli ordered by Scrutiny
Committee and affirmed by the order of Appellate Authority
and that of the High Court in that behalf. Subject to the
above modifications, the appeal is dismissed but without
costs.
259