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Terraform Magnum Limited (Formerly Known as Everest Buildcon Limited) vs The State of Maharashtra & Ors.

Civil Appeal · 2022 INSC 631Decided 30 May 2022
Civil Appeal No. 4500 of 2022
B.R. Gavai · Hima Kohli

Background

Land originally belonging to one Hira Komb had passed through several hands before reaching the appellant. After the Maharashtra Restoration of Lands to Scheduled Tribes Act, 1974 came into force, Hira Komb's legal heirs sought restoration of the land, and the State Government ordered restoration in their favour in 2016: a decision the Bombay High Court upheld. The appellant's entitlement claim rested primarily on a Scheduled Tribe caste certificate held by one of the legal heirs, respondent no. 9, but while the appeal was pending before the Supreme Court, the Caste Scrutiny Committee invalidated that very certificate in February 2020.

Decision Breakdown

The Supreme Court held that although the 1974 Act is beneficial welfare legislation meant to restore land to genuine tribals whose land had been grabbed, its protection is available only to those who actually belong to a Scheduled Tribe, and such status must be validated by the Caste Scrutiny Committee under the applicable caste-verification law. Since respondent no. 9 was the only heir holding a Scheduled Tribe certificate and that certificate had since been invalidated, a finding none of the heirs wished to challenge, the very foundation of the restoration claim no longer existed. The Court therefore allowed the appeal, quashed both the High Court's 2016 order and the State Government's underlying restoration order, and left no order as to costs.

Lesson Learnt

A claim to benefits reserved for Scheduled Tribes cannot survive once the caste certificate underlying that claim is invalidated by the competent Caste Scrutiny Committee, even in welfare legislation meant to protect tribals, entitlement depends on genuine, verified tribal status, not merely on an earlier favourable order that has since lost its factual basis.

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

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