Education/Educational Institutions – MBBS admission – Seat reserved for Scheduled Tribe – Appellant secured the admission claiming that she belonged to ‘Mana’ Scheduled Tribe – Claim invalidated – Documents of pre-Constitution period relied upon by the appellant – Probative value of – Held: Documents of the preConstitution period showing the caste of the applicant and their ancestors have got the highest probative value – If an applicant is able to produce authentic and genuine documents of the preConstitution period showing that he belongs to a tribal community, there is no reason to discard his or her claim as prior to 1950, there were no reservations provided to the Tribes included in the Constitution (Scheduled Tribes) Order – In the present case, appellant’s great grandfathers birth record shows the caste as ‘Mana’ – The said document relates to as early as 10.03.1924, while another document of 14.04.1926 shows the caste as ‘Mani’, however, there is no caste named ‘Mani’ – It is possible that there could be some mistake in writing the caste as the original record was written in Marathi and not in English – No reason to discard the pre-Constitutional document of the period as early as 1924 – Order of the Scrutiny Committee and High Court quashed and set aside – Appellant belongs to ‘Mana’ Scheduled Tribe – Social Status Certificate.
Social Status Certificate – Scheduled Tribe – Affinity Test – Held: Affinity test may not be regarded as a litmus test for establishing the link of the applicant with a Scheduled Tribe – Claim by a person belonging to the Scheduled Tribe cannot per se be disregarded on the ground that his present traits do not match his tribe’s peculiar anthropological and ethnological traits etc. – Though the Affinity Test may be used to corroborate the documentary evidence, it should not be the sole criteria to reject the claim – Education/Educational Institutions.
Mah. Adiwasi Thakur Jamat Swarakshan Samiti v. State of Maharashtra and Others 2023 SCC Online SC 326; Anand v. Committee for Scrutiny and Verification of Tribe Claims and Others (2012) 1 SCC 113 : [2011] 15 SCR 386 – relied on.
Ku. Yogita v. State of Maharashtra and Others Writ Petition No. 6103 of 2010 decided on 15.09.2016 – referred to.
As published in the Supreme Court Reports, Supreme Court of India. Text from the Indian Supreme Court Judgments open data set (Dattam Labs), CC BY 4.0.
This page is for informational and research purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. Consult a qualified advocate for advice specific to your situation.