Synopsis

The petitioners, a teacher and his sister, claimed to belong to the ‘Halba’ Scheduled Tribe. Their claim was rejected by the Caste Scrutiny Committee, Nagpur on the ground that vigilance reports showed certain relatives recorded as ‘Koshti’ and that they failed the affinity test. The High Court quashed the invalidation order, holding that: (i) pre‑Independence documents (1904 school record of grandfather, 1909 school leaving certificate, 1914 registered gift‑deed of the family Bhat clearly showing “Halba/Halbi”) have high probative value; (ii) the entry ‘Koshti’ in some records should be treated as a profession (weaving) and not a caste, given that no separate ‘Koshti’ caste was recognised at that time; (iii) the Committee failed to consider the most reliable pre‑1950 documents; (iv) the genuineness of the 1904 document was already verified by the Appellate Authority in the case of the petitioner’s nephews and the same document was wrongly doubted. The court declared that the petitioners belong to ‘Halba’ Scheduled Tribe and directed issuance of validity certificates.

Court: High Court of Judicature at Bombay, Nagpur Bench

Coram: Hon’ble Mrs. Justice M. S. Jawalkar and Hon’ble Mr. Justice Nandesh S. Deshpande (Division Bench)

Date of Judgment: 4th May 2026

Citation: Writ Petition No.3355 of 2020 & Writ Petition No.3465 of 2020 (unreported)

Core Law: Scheduled Tribes – Caste validity (Halba Scheduled Tribe); Indian Evidence Act, 1872 – Section 79 (presumption as to genuineness of old documents); 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 – Procedure for scrutiny.

1. Heading of the judgment

High court of judicature at bombay, nagpur bench, nagpur

Writ petition no.3355 of 2020 and writ petition no.3465 of 2020

Mr. mahendra manoharrao hedau and ms. varsha sudhakarrao hedau (petitioners) vs. State of maharashtra & ors. (respondents)

Coram: hon’ble mrs. justice m. s. jawalkar and hon’ble mr. justice nandesh s. deshpande (division bench)

Reserved on: 20th april, 2026; pronounced on: 4th may, 2026

2. Legal framework

Major laws and provisions involved:

• Constitution (scheduled tribes) order, 1950 – entry no.19 (halba)

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