Grandfather’s ‘Koli’ entry can’t sink teen’s Scheduled Tribe claim: Bombay High Court

The court said that the situation would have been different if the grandfather’s “Koli” entry had been made before the Constitution came into force. It also noted that the Scrutiny Committee had found that the grandfather’s brother’s school records said he was a “Koli Mahadev” and that school record was not found to be tampered with. The Koli Mahadev tribe holds constitutional status as a Scheduled Tribe.

Student seeks Koli Mahadev certificate

The 17-year-old student in question from Solapur sought a Scheduled Tribe (ST) validity certificate as a member of the “Koli Mahadev” tribe for his admission under the ST category. The scrutiny committee, however, rejected his claim on August 13, relying on a 1951 school record of his grandfather that mentioned his caste as “Koli”. It also rejected a 1958 school record of the grandfather’s brother, which mentioned “Mahadev Koli”, after finding the document to be not trustworthy.

Justices Sharmila U Deshmukh and Neeraj P Dhote held that the scrutiny committee’s reasons for rejection were unacceptable.

The student argued that the committee did not consider the documentary evidence in its right perspective and invalidated his tribal claim only based on one entry of “Koli” in his grandfather’s school record.

The student’s counsel submitted that the impugned order must be set aside, based on the documents on record, and he was entitled to the ST validity certificate for the “Koli Mahadev” Scheduled Tribe.

Advocate Tejas J Kapre, appearing for the state, submitted that the grandfather’s brother had taken admission in Class 1 at the age of 10, when the minimum age for admission was six years.

The counsel argued that the scrutiny committee had rightly considered the evidence on record and no fault can be found with the disputed order, and sought dismissal of the petition.

Committee’s reasons unacceptable: HC

The court observed that the Vigilance Cell report indicated that the “Koli Mahadev” tribe earlier resided in hilly regions. The other reason for invalidation of the student’s ST claim is that he failed to establish affinity towards the “Koli Mahadev” tribe.

“…the Vigilance Cell report goes to show that, the collection of honey and forest product was the traditional occupation of the petitioner’s family. The Vigilance Cell report does not indicate that, fishing was their traditional occupation,” it added.

The court held that the reasons submitted by the scrutiny committee were unacceptable, and directed the committee to issue a validity certificate in favour of the student as belonging to the “Koli Mahadev” Scheduled Tribe within a week.