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Mah. Adiwasi Thakur Jamat Swarakshan Samiti vs. The State of Maharashtra & Ors. (2023 INSC: Civil Appeal No. 2502 of 2022, with connected appeals)

Civil Appeal · 2023 INSC 286Decided 24 Mar 2023
Civil Appeal No. 2502 of 2022

Background

Under Entry 44 of the Scheduled Tribes list for Maharashtra, several related castes ("Thakur", "Thakar", etc.) are notified as Scheduled Tribes. Disputes repeatedly arose over how Caste Scrutiny Committees should verify whether a person genuinely belongs to such a tribe, in particular, whether the "affinity test" (checking a claimant's anthropological/ethnological traits and social affinity with the tribe) must always be conducted, or is merely one piece of evidence among others. A Full Bench of the Bombay High Court, in the "Shilpa Vishnu Thakur" case, had made observations suggesting the affinity test was an integral, almost mandatory part of every such determination, and a batch of appeals questioning this approach reached the Supreme Court, which examined the correct legal test.

Decision Breakdown

The Supreme Court held that the affinity test is not a mandatory or conclusive tool in every caste-validation case. Under the applicable rules, a Scrutiny Committee should refer a claim to the Vigilance Cell for detailed inquiry (including an affinity test) only if, after considering the documents already produced, it remains unsatisfied, and it must record brief reasons for that dissatisfaction. Even where an affinity test is conducted, its result is only one factor to be weighed along with all other material with probative value, not a "litmus test" that automatically validates or invalidates a claim. The Court clarified that the Full Bench's judgment below did not, properly read, hold the affinity test to be mandatory in every case, but it disapproved the High Court's observation describing the affinity test as "an integral part" of every determination. The matter was remitted for the individual appeals/SLPs to be placed before the appropriate bench to be decided applying this clarified legal position.

Lesson Learnt

A caste/tribe validity claim cannot be rejected merely because a claimant fails, or is not subjected to, an "affinity test": genuine documentary and other evidence must be weighed holistically, and the affinity test is only supplementary evidence, not a decisive threshold.

Official source (sci.gov.in)View Judgment (PDF)

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