Bombay HC – Caste Scrutiny Committee Cannot Review Its Own Validity Certificate
Judgment dated 29.10.2026 of the High Court of Bombay in Writ Petittion No.13589 of 2026 of Smita Satyawan Bhadekar Vs. The State of Maharashtra, Dept of Tribunal Development and another with connected writ petition.
The tribe claim of the petitioner as belonging to “Thakur Scheduled Tribe” was verified and Validity Certificate was issued on 1.6.2002.
After 16 years, the Scrutiny Committee sought to review the said caste validity certificate.
on the aforesaid backdrop, the impugned communication dated 23 September, 2026 was issued whereby the show cause notice dated 12 January, 2018 was resurrected and in the form of continuing the said show cause notice, the petitioner was again called upon to attend the hearing being held by the Caste Scrutiny Committee in regard to the review of the validity granted to the petitioner’s caste certificate vide order dated 1 June, 2002. Also, annexed to the impugned notice dated 23 September, 2026 is the report dated 16 September, 2026 of the Vigilance Officer. It is on such premise, the petitioner has approached this Court.
amended provisions of Section 6A, inserted by Maharashtra Act No. XXXVIII of 2026 were incorporated in the Maharashtra Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, De-notified Tribes (Vimukta Jatis), Nomadic Tribes, Other Backward Classes and Special Backward Category (Regulation of Issuance and Verification of) Caste Certificate Act, 2000 as brought into force with effect from 22 July, 2026 conferring the powers of review on the Caste Scrutiny Committee. In is hence submitted that considering the said provisions, the Caste Scrutiny Committee would have jurisdiction to review the earlier decisions.
In the light of the aforesaid discussion, we prima facie find substance in the contentions as urged on behalf of the petitioner that the Caste Scrutiny Committee had no jurisdiction to issue the show cause notice dated 12 January, as also resurrected by the impugned notice/show cause notice dated 22/23 September, 2026. In this view of the matter, a strong prima facie case has been made out for grant of admission of petition as also for grant of interim relief.
