POURNIMA SURYAKANT PAWAR versus STATE OF MAHARAHTRA AND OTHERS

Citation: [2013] 2 S.C.R. 262 · Decided: 07-03-2013 · Supreme Court of India · Bench: S.S. NIJJAR, M.Y. EQBAL
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Judgment (excerpt)

A 
B 
[2013] 2 S.C.R. 262 
POURNIMA SURYAKANT PAWAR 
v. 
STATE OF MAHARA~HTRA AND OTHERS 
(Special Leave Petition (Civil) No. 3910 of 2008) 
MARCH 7, 2013 
[SURINDER SINGH NIJJAR AND M.Y. EQBAL, JJ.] 
Scheduled Caste I Scheduled Tribe - Caste scrutiny -
Claim of petitioners that they belonged to Scheduled Tribe -
C Rejected by Scheduled Tribe Certificate Scrutiny Committee 
- Order upheld by High Court - On appeal, held: Documentary 
evidence showed that family members of the petitioners did 
not belong to the 'Thakar Scheduled Tribe' as claimed by 
them - Petitioners deliberately withheld their caste at the time 
D of making application before the Caste Scrutiny Committee 
- The Scrutiny Committee also noticed that the petitioners 
failed in the affinity test as the information supplied by them 
was at variance with the information given by them in Court -
Documents discovered by the Vigilance Cell relating to local 
E school register clearly proved that the caste of the family 
members and predecessors of the petitioners was recorded 
as 'Bhat', 'Thakar', 'Marathe' and 'Hindu Marathe' -
Conclusions recorded by the Scrutiny Committee were 
reasonable and fully supported by the material on record -
F Therefore, conclusions reached by the Scrutiny Committee, 
and affirmed by the High Court cannot be said to be either 
peNerse or based on no evidence. 
Kumari Madhuri Patil and Another versus Addi. 
Commissioner, Tribal Development and Others (1994) 6 SCC 
G 241: 1994 (3) Suppl. SCR 50 - relied on. 
Case Law Reference: 
1994 (3) Suppl. SCR 50 
relied on 
Para 
12 
H 
262 
POURNIMA SURYAKANT PAWAR v. STATE OF 
263 
MAHARASHTRA 
CIVIL APPELLATE JURISDICTION : Special Leave 
A 
. Petition (Civil) No. 3910 of 2008. 
From the Judgment & Order dated 08.01.2008 of the High 
Court of Judicature at Bombay in Writ Petition No. 6674 of 
2007. 
WITH 
SLP (C) No. 11376 of 2010. 
· Naresh Kumar, Sudhanshu S. Choudhari, Asha Gopalan 
B 
Nair for the Appearing Parties. 
c 
The following order of the Court was delivered by 
ORDER 
1. Delay condoned in SLP(C) No.11376/201 Q. 
D 
2. Both the petitions are filed by two cousin (sisters) 
against the decision of the Scheduled Tribe Certificate Scrutiny 
Committee, Pune Region, Pune, (for short "Scrutiny 
Committee") in Case No.ICSC/MPSC/Pune-01/2006 decided 
on 30th July, 2007 and in Case No. TCSC/SER/PUNE/19/2006 
E 
decided on 26th March, 2009, whereby the claim of the 
petitioners belonging to 'Thakar, Scheduled Tribe' was rejected. 
Both the petitioners moved the High Court of Judicature at 
Bombay by way of separate writ petitions being Writ Petition 
No.6674 of 2007 and Writ Petition No.5231 of 2009, which 
F 
were dismissed by orders, dated 8th January, 2008 and 4th 
November, 2009 respectively. Both the petitioners are relying 
on common facts in support of their claim. They are also relying 
on the Certificate issued to Dilip Pandurang Pawar, recognizing 
his caste to be "Thakar Scheduled Tribe". For the purposes 
G 
of this order, we shall make a reference to the facts as pleaded 
by the petitioner in Writ Petition No. 6674 of 2007. 
3. A perusal of the order passed by the Scrutiny 
Committee in the case of the petitioner in Writ Petition No.6674 
H 
264 
SUPREME COURT REPORTS 
[2013] 2 S.C.R. 
A of 2007 would show that she had relied upon the following 
documents in support of her claim: 
B 
c 
D 
E 
F 
G 
"I. 
Original and attested copy of caste certificate in 
respect of applicant showing caste as Hindu 
Thakar, Scheduled Tribe bearing No.030405248, 
dated 11. 7.2003 issued by the Deputy Collector, 
{C.F.C. Pune) 
II. 
Attested copy of school leaving certificate in respect 
of applicant wherein caste is shown as Hindu 
Thakar and date of admission 02.06.88. 
Ill. 
Attested copy of high school leaving certificate in 
respect of applicant wherein caste is shown as 
Hindu Thakar and date of admission 12.06.95. 
IV. 
Attested copy of school admission abstract in 
respect of Laxman Tukaram Thakar (applicant's 
grandfather) wherein caste is shown as Thakar and 
date of admission is not recorded. 
V. 
Attested copy of school leaving certificate in respect 
of Sakharam Tukaram Thakar (applicant's cousin 
grandfather) wherein 1..aste is shown as Thakar and 
date of admission 23.08.23. 
VI. 
Attested copy of caste certificate showing caste 
as Hindu Thakar, Scheduled Tribe and attested 
copy of validity certificate issued by the Scrutiny 
Committee, Pune vide No.TRl/TCSC/Pune-1/2001/ 
299
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