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REPORTABLE

IN THE SUPREME COURT OF INDIA CIVIL APPELLATE JURISDICTION

Civil Appeal No.5778  of 2015 [Arising out of S.L.P.(C)No. 10430 of 2014]

Rajeshwar Baburao Bone                 …..Appellant(s)

versus

The State of Maharashtra and Another      …..Respondent(s)

ORDER M. Y. EQBAL, J.  

Leave granted.

2. This appeal by special leave is directed against the order

dated 17.12.2013 passed by the High Court of Bombay, Bench

at Aurangabad, whereby the High Court has dismissed the writ

petition filed by the appellant herein.  

3.  The facts of the case lie in a narrow compass.

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4. The  appellant  herein  claims  to  be  belonging  to  ‘Koli

Mahadev’  a  scheduled  tribe  community.   According  to  the

appellant he separated from his family as there was dispute in

respect of the property with his father and for quite some time,

the appellant have no relationship or communication with his

father and other family members.  

5.  Since  the  appellant  has  secured  employment  with  Zilla

Parishad,  Beed,  on  the  post  reserved  for  Scheduled  Tribe

category, the tribe certificate issued in his favour was referred

to the Scrutiny Committee for verification after 18 years from

the  date  of  appointment.   The  appellant  submitted  several

documents in support of his claim including the oldest record of

1348  fasali  pertaining  to  his  grandfather  namely  Gundaji

Narsingh Bone wherein his caste is recorded as Mahadev Koli.  

6.  The claim of the appellant was referred to vigilance cell and

vigilance officer has conducted the home and school enquiry.

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On  consideration  of  all  the  documents  furnished  by  the

appellant including affidavits as well as forms filled in by the

appellant,  the Scrutiny Committee proceeded to issue validity

certificate by reasoned order dated 19.06.2010.

7. It  was  later  on  revealed  that  tribe  certificate  issued  in

favour of  appellant’s brother by name Sharadkumar Baburao

Bone has been invalidated by the Committee by order  dated

20.10.2004  and  said  order  was  communicated  to  him  on

27.10.2004.  The writ petition challenging the order passed by

the  Committee  invalidating  tribe  claim of  the  brother  of  the

appellant,  being  Writ  Petition  No.  6934  of  2004,  has  been

dismissed by the High Court. The SLP filed against that order of

the High Court has been dismissed by this Court.  

8. The Scrutiny Committee,  as such, decided to reconsider

the matter concerning issuance of validity certificate in favour

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of  the  appellant.   The  appellant  was  duly  noticed  by  the

Committee and after  extending opportunity  of  hearing to the

appellant,  the  Scrutiny  Committee  by  order  dated  24.2.2012

recalled  its  earlier  order  and  directed  invalidation  of  tribe

certificate of the appellant. In paragraph nos. 7,8,9, and 10, the

Scrutiny Committee has observed thus:-

“  Applicant has submitted in Form ‘E’ in which column  No.17(a)  it  is  specifically  asked  that whether  any  family  member  from  your  family members previously verified? Applicant answered that, ‘No’.

Applicant  filed  affidavit,  notorised  before  notary on 13.1.2009 in format ‘F’ in which he specially made  statement  on  oath,  “No  scheduled  tribe certificate of any of my relatives from paternal side is ever held invalid by the Scrutiny Committee.

Applicant also submitted another affidavit  dated 16.3.2009 in which he again made fake statement that  ‘Any  of  my  sister  and  brother  or  blood relatives  bears  surname  as  Bone  whose  claim never  invalidated  by  the  Committee  or  no  any petition pending before any Court.

The  Police  inspector  of  vigilance  cell  recorded statement  on  9.4.2009  of  applicant’s  father namely  Shri  Baburao  Gundaji  Bone.   He  also again made statement that “in my family, in Bone surnames or  in  my relatives  whose  claim never invalidated by the committee or  no any petition pending before any Court.”

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9. The  appellant  challenged  the  aforesaid  order  dated

24.2.2012 passed by the Scrutiny Committee by filing a writ

petition being writ petition No.5160 of 2012 in the High Court of

Bombay at Aurangabad Bench. The High Court after hearing

the  appellant  dismissed  the  writ  petition  and  observed  as

under:-

“In our opinion,  petitioner has willfully  misled the  Scrutiny  Committee  for  securing  validity certificate wrongfully.  The petitioner is guilty of making  false  statements  on  oath  before  the Scrutiny  Committee.   As  a  result  of misrepresentation made by the petitioner earlier, the  Scrutiny  Committee  had  issued  validity certificate in his favour.  However, after realizing fraudulent act of the petitioner, the Committee proceeded to recall its earlier order.  Since the petitioner  has  played  fraud  by  filing  false affidavits  on record before  the  Committee,  the Committee  was justified  in recalling  its  earlier order of granting validity certificate in favour of the petitioner.  It is well established that in the event  of  occurrence  of  fraud,  Scrutiny Committee can recall its earlier order even in the absence  of  specific  provision  enabling  the Committee to exercise powers of review.”

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10. Hence the present Appeal by Special Leave.

11. We  have  heard  Mrs.  Meenakshi  Arora  learned  senior

counsel appearing for the appellant and Mr. Arun R. Pedneker,

learned counsel appearing for the respondent-State.

12. Mrs. Meenakshi Arora, put heavy reliance on the decision

of this Court in the case of   Dattu s/o Namdev Thakur  vs.

State of Maharashtra & Others (2012) 1 SCC 549 and Shalini

vs. New English High School Association & Ors. (2013) 16

SCC 526.  We have carefully examined the ratio decided by this

Court in the decisions referred to hereinabove.

13. In the instant case, the appellant claimed to be a member

of  scheduled tribe on the basis of  false statements and false

affidavits submitted by him. At the same time indisputably in

the year 1991, the appellant got employment on the basis of his

claim to be a member of scheduled tribe.  After 18 years of his

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employment, the matter was referred to a Scrutiny Committee

for  verification.   On consideration  of  all  the  documents,  the

enquiry  conducted by vigilance  cell,  a  validity  certificate  was

issued by the Scrutiny Committee on 19.06.2010.  However the

matter  was  reconsidered  by  the  Scrutiny  Committee  for  the

reason that the tribe certificate issued in favour of his brother

was  invalidated  by  the  Committee  in  2004  and  the  order

attained finality up to this Court. The Scrutiny Committee after

giving  opportunity  recalled  its  earlier  order  dated  19.6.2010,

whereby  validity  certificate  was  issued  in  favour  of  the

appellant.

14. In the facts and circumstances of this case, we are of the

opinion  that  the  impugned  order  passed  by  the  High  Court

needs no interference and this appeal deserves to be dismissed.

However,  we  hold  that  because  of  inordinate  delay  in

considering  the certificate of the appellant, the benefit of the

certificate  already  availed  by  the  appellant  shall  not  be

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disturbed  making  it  clear  that   the  appellant  shall  not  be

entitled  to  take  any  further  benefit  of  reservation  in  future

including the benefit of continuing in service.  

15. In the result, this appeal is dismissed with the observation

made hereinabove.  

…………………………….J. (M.Y. Eqbal)

…………………………….J. (C. Nagappan)

New Delhi July 29, 2015

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