The Supreme Court has set aside a Bombay High Court order and restored the caste validity of Yogesh Madhav Makalwad, recognising him as belonging to the Scheduled Tribe - Koli Mahadev. The decision came after the apex court examined a pre-Independence document that confirmed the caste status of his grandfather, Jalba Malba Makalwad, recorded in 1943.
The case began when the Scheduled Tribe Certificate Scrutiny Committee, Aurangabad, invalidated the caste certificates of the appellant and his father in 2019, rejecting school admission records dating back to 1943, 1975, and 1979. The High Court upheld this decision in July 2024, citing doubts over document authenticity and failure in the affinity test.
Chief Justice B.R. Gavai, delivering the judgment, referred to the precedent in Anand v. Committee for Scrutiny & Verification of Tribe Claims, which emphasised giving greater probative value to pre-Independence documents and treating the affinity test as corroborative, not decisive.
"Merely because the applicant cannot recall traditional anthropological traits or rituals cannot be a sole ground to reject the claim," the Court stated.
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The Bench noted that the 1943 school record was consistent in ink and handwriting, leaving no scope for interpolation. It also reaffirmed that modernisation and migration often alter traditional tribal traits, making affinity tests less conclusive.
Allowing the appeal, the Court quashed the Scrutiny Committee's order and directed it to issue a caste validity certificate to the appellant within six weeks, enabling him to avail of reservation benefits for medical admission.
Case Title:- Yogesh Madhav Makalwad vs. The State of Maharashtra & Ors.
