- (1.) Leave granted.
(2.) This appeal, by special leave, has been preferred against the judgment and order dated 4.8.2004 of a Division Bench of Bombay High Court (Nagpur Bench) by which the writ petition filed by the respondent Suresh Ramkrishna Burde was disposed of with a direction to reinstate him in service and further that in future he shall not take any benefit as belonging to reserved category of Scheduled Tribe.
(3.) The respondent herein, Suresh Ramkrishna Burde, claiming himself to be belonging to Halba Scheduled Tribe and after submitting a certificate to the said effect, got an appointment in the Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd., Hyderabad, as Clerk on 31.5.1982 on a post which was reserved for a person belonging to Scheduled Tribe. He was promoted as Assistate Grade II on 27.6.1987 and then as Assistant Grade I on 25.6.1994. The Scheduled Tribes Employees Association (Regd. No. 290 BHEL), Hyderabad, made a complaint that the respondent and several others had produced false caste certificates and had thereby got appointment on vacancies which were reserved for members of Scheduled Tribes. The caste certificate produced by the respondent was referred for verification to District Collector, Nagpur, on 30.3.1991 and also to the Chairman, Scheduled Tribe Caste Certificate Scrutiny Committee (for short the Scrutiny Committee ). The Scrutiny Committee vide order 30.8.1995 held that the caste certificate produced by the respondent was false and the same was invalidated. The respondent challenged the said order by filing writ petition No. 3229 of 1995 before the Nagpur Bench of Bombay High Court, which was allowed and the matter was remanded back to the Scrutiny Committee for a fresh consideration in accordance with law. The Scrutiny Committee again examined the matter in accordance with the direction of the High Court and also got an enquiry conducted through its Police Vigilance Cell. The enquiry committee took into consideration the primary school record of the respondent and also extracts of the admission register of the school where the respondent s real paternal cousin had his primary education in the year 1945 onwards. The Scrutiny Committee vide its report dated 29.8.2001 found that the respondent belonged to Koshti caste and he did not belong to Halba Scheduled Tribe. This order was again challenged by the respondent by filing writ petition No. 3628 of 2001 before the Nagpur Bench of Bombay High Court wherein an interim stay was granted in favour of the respondent on 1.11.2001. The writ petition was finally disposed of on 17.2.2004 and the relevant portion of the order is being reproduced below: - "Learned counsel for the petitioner seeks permission to withdraw the present Writ Petition with a liberty to approach the employer of the petitioner by making a representation in view of the observations of the Apex Court in Milind Katware s case 2001 1 MhLJ as well as in view of the Govt. Resolutions dated 15.06.1995 and 15.03.2000, and further prays that a direction be given to the respondent no. 4 - employer of the petitioner, to decide the representation of the petitioner on its own merits within the stipulated period. Permission is granted. Writ Petition is dismissed as withdrawn. Respondent No. 4 is directed to decide the representation of the petitioner according to the law within a period of six weeks from the date of the receipt of such representation." Thereafter, the respondent made a representation dated 12.3.2004 to the appellant herein (employer) wherein he prayed that in view of decision of the Supreme Court in State of Maharashtra V/s. Milind and others, 2001 1 SCC 4, his services may be protected. This representation was considered by the appellant and was rejected. The services of the respondent were terminated vide order dated 16.7.2004. Feeling aggrieved by the said order the respondent then filed writ petition No. 3142 of 2004 before the Nagpur Bench of Bombay High Court, which, after accepting his undertaking that in future he will not take any advantage of being a member of Scheduled Tribe, was disposed of with a direction that he shall be reinstated in service. The order passed by the High Court is a brief one and relevant part thereof is reproduced below: - "It may be noted here that the judgment of the Supreme Court in State of Maharashtra V/s. Milind Katware, 2001 1 MhLJ 1 is not only the judgment pertaining to that case but it is also a settled law. In fact, the Honourable Supreme Court has accepted the same to be the settled law in various judgments rendered thereafter. In accordance with the said judgment of Milind Katware the petitioner has already filed an undertaking that he will not take any benefit of Halba Scheduled Tribe in future. The learned counsel for the petitioner, on behalf of the petitioner, undertakes that, neither the petitioner nor his family members will ever claim any benefit as belonging to Halba Scheduled Tribe. The said undertaking is accepted. The learned counsel for the petitioner also states that the petitioner will abide by the order of Scrutiny Committee, referred in the order dated 16.07.2004, especially when the undertaking is accepted. Under the circumstances, we direct the respondent to reinstate the petitioner, as his services were terminated only on the limited ground. We make it clear that the respondent shall not terminate services of the petitioner only on the ground that he does not belong to Halba (Scheduled Tribe). The respondent shall treat the petitioner to be belonging to open category. The writ petition stands disposed of in the above terms.";