Nagpur: In a significant judgment, the Nagpur bench of the Bombay High Court dismissed a petition filed by Murlidhar Khadge—an employee of Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited (HPCL)—for concealing crucial facts related to his caste claim. The court also imposed a fine of ₹10,000 on the petitioner for attempting to mislead the court.
Khadge had challenged HPCL’s order dated April 2, 2025, which rejected his claim of belonging to the Scheduled Tribe (ST) category under the ‘Halbi’ community. He based his claim on entries in old documents related to his grandfather Ukarda Kisan, whose school leaving certificate and admission register reportedly recorded the caste as ‘Halbi’. His counsel argued that since the entries were from the pre-constitutional era, they carried strong evidentiary value.
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20 May 2025
However, the caste verification committee’s vigilance cell submitted that upon investigation, Khadge could not be linked to the Halbi Scheduled Tribe through blood relatives. In fact, one of his close relatives, Gajanan Namdevrao, had already been issued a valid caste certificate under the ‘Kosti’ caste (classified under SBC) on July 30, 2014. This critical fact was never disclosed by Khadge during the proceedings.
After hearing arguments from both sides, the High Court observed that Khadge did not deny his blood relation with Gajanan. The family tree submitted on August 20, 2018, confirmed this relationship. The court noted that suppressing this information was a serious matter and constituted an attempt to abuse the judicial process.
The bench stated that hiding the issuance of an SBC (Kosti) caste certificate to a close relative was sufficient grounds not only to reject the petition but also to levy a financial penalty.
Conclusion: The court emphasized that any attempt to conceal facts, especially in sensitive matters like caste validity, would be treated strictly. Judicial proceedings must be approached with full honesty and transparency.
