If a man and his brother belong to a scheduled tribe, a fact validated by the Bombay High Court, then will his son also belong to the same tribe? The simple logical answer has evaded the bright minds of the Scheduled Tribe Certificate Scrutiny Committee. In a classic example of how government machinery operates, a student had to approach the high court to validate his tribal status, an exercise that was also done by two of his family members some years ago.

The case

The student had obtained a certificate that he belonged to the Thakar schedule tribe in March 2020. His certificate was sent by the education institute in which he had sought admission for scrutiny to the Scheduled Tribe Certificate Scrutiny Committee. The committee directed the vigilance cell to conduct an enquiry and submit a report. As per the report of the vigilance cell the student failed to prove his caste claim. Thus the committee on November 15, 2021, invalidated the scheduled tribe certificate of the student.