A scrutiny committee could not treat a fraud allegation against a father as though his still-operative tribe-validity certificate had already been cancelled, the Bombay High Court held while directing a Thakur Scheduled Tribe certificate for his daughter.
Justices R. I. Chagla and Firdosh P. Pooniwalla set aside the committee’s 30 June 2026 rejection of Nupur Prashant Surve’s claim.
“since Caste Validity Certificates had been issued to the Petitioner’s blood relatives, reliance on Show Cause Notices issued to the Petitioner’s blood relatives alleging fraud would not suffice to refuse to grant Validity Certificate to the Petitioner.”
— Para 12
Why it matters. A notice begins an inquiry; it is not an order of invalidation. Until the relative’s validity is lawfully reopened and cancelled, the committee cannot deny the applicant the benefit of that existing family determination merely by alleging that supporting material was fabricated.
Her father’s validity still stood
Surve applied on 12 December 2024 for verification of her certificate as belonging to the Thakur Scheduled Tribe. Her father had received a validity certificate by a reasoned order dated 22 March 2022 after a Vigilance Cell inquiry.
The daughter relied on that certificate, the same Vigilance Cell material later reported on 16 June 2025, and pre-Constitution documents from 1924 and 1945. The committee nevertheless rejected her claim, stating that her father had obtained validity through alleged fraud. A show-cause notice issued after his certificate accused him of relying on fabricated documents, but the reopened proceeding had not yet resulted in invalidation.
The Division Bench followed its 27 August 2026 decision in Rushank Sitaram Kataskar v. State of Maharashtra. That ruling, applying Maharashtra Adiwasi Thakur Jamat Swarakshan Samiti v. State of Maharashtra and Bombay High Court authorities, held that unresolved fraud notices against paternal blood relatives do not suffice to reject a new claim based on their existing certificates.
The judgment
The court ordered the scrutiny committee to issue Surve’s Thakur Scheduled Tribe validity certificate within one week of 31 August 2026.
The relief is conditional in one respect. If the validity holders on whom she relied later lose their certificates in reopened proceedings, the committee may reopen her case, and the same consequences may follow. This preserves consistency across the family line without allowing a pending accusation to operate as a completed cancellation.
The writ petition was disposed of without costs.
“It appears from the record that Respondent No.2 Scrutiny Committee has placed reliance upon certain documents which they allege are fabricated by the Petitioners’ father to obtain the Tribe Validity Certificate.”
— Para 11
“If any of the validity holders on whom the Petitioner before this Court has relied upon for claiming validity, suffer invalidation in the reopened cases, the Respondent No.2 Scrutiny Committee would be at liberty to reopen the Petitioner’s case as well”
— Para 15