SADANAND RAGHUNATH GHARAT Vs. UNION OF INDIA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The writ petition has been heard afresh in terms of our order dated November 25, 2022 in the presence of the parties.

(2.) Original Application No. 19 of 2013, on the file of the Central Administrative Tribunal, Mumbai Bench, Mumbai (hereafter "the Tribunal ", for short) was dismissed by an order dtd. 4/1/2019. The petitioner, the original applicant before the Tribunal, is aggrieved by such order; hence, he has presented this petition dtd. 30/1/2019 under Article 226 of the Constitution.

(3.) Filtering out unnecessary facts, what we find from the materials on record is that the petitioner was offered appointment on 3/12/1977 by the office of the Collector of Central Excise, Bombay on the post of Inspector of Central Excise. Although the petitioner claims that he was not appointed on a post reserved for Scheduled Tribe candidates, the Establishment Order No. 374/1977 dtd. 6/12/1977, issued by the office of the Collector of Central Excise, assigning place of posting to the Inspectors (O.G.), Central Excise, clearly records "(S.T.) " against the name of the petitioner, appearing at Sr. No. 12. The petitioner joined on 3/1/1978 and continued in service for nearly 3 (three) decades without even producing a tribe certificate, as prescribed as early as on 20/1/1952 and revised on 29/10/1977. The certificate that the petitioner procured from the then Special Executive Magistrate, Greater Bombay reads as follows: -