Koshti Is Vocation, Not Caste: Bombay High Court Upholds Halba ST Claim

Nagpur: Relying on century-old records and a rare 1914 genealogical document, Nagpur bench of Bombay High Court recently held that ‘Koshti' in certain historical records referred to a weaving vocation and not a distinct caste identity, while restoring the ‘Halba' Scheduled Tribe status of two Nagpur-based teachers.A division bench comprising Justices Mukulika Jawalkar and Nandesh Deshpande quashed the Sept 29, 2020, orders of Scheduled Tribe Certificate Scrutiny Committee here, which invalidated the tribe claims of Mahendra Hedau and Varsha Dhanorkar."It needs to be noted there was no caste called ‘Koshti' recognised till 1995 as special backward class. Even though there's an entry of ‘Koshti' in some documents, it has to be treated as a profession," the judges said. They directed the scrutiny committee to issue ‘Halba' Scheduled Tribe validity certificates to both petitioners within four weeks.The ruling assumes importance amid continuing disputes in Vidarbha over ‘Halba-Koshti' classifications, particularly in cases where later records are in conflict with pre-Independence documents.The scrutiny panel had rejected the petitioners' claims after vigilance inquiries unearthed certain school records mentioning some relatives as ‘Koshti'. It also questioned the petitioners' socio-cultural affinity with the Halba tribe.However, the high court held that the oldest available records, including school documents from 1904 and 1909 and a registered genealogical gift deed from 1914 overwhelmingly support the petitioners' tribal identity as ‘Halba' or ‘Halbi'.The bench observed historical evidence showing several members of the Halba tribe adopted weaving as a profession, leading to ‘Koshti' references in records. The petitioners' case was argued by senior counsel Anil Mardikar and assisted by SD Borkute.The judges accepted the contention while referring to historical literature and documentary evidence. One of the key documents examined by the court was a 1914 registered gift deed maintained by a traditional genealogist or ‘Bhat', preserving family lineage records on palm-leaf manuscripts. The document referred to ‘Halbi @ Koshti', a detail the court said supported the petitioners' argument that ‘Koshti' denoted occupation rather than caste identity in certain historical contexts. The archaeological department also verified its authenticity. "The gift deed is more than 100 years old, and its genuineness cannot be doubted," the bench observed.The court sharply criticised the scrutiny committee for disregarding verified pre-Independence records, particularly a 1904 school admission extract of the petitioners' grandfather, Gopal Ganpati, which described him as ‘Halba'. Notably, the same document was earlier accepted by the appellate scrutiny authority while granting validity certificates to petitioners' nephews."In spite of this position, the scrutiny committee observed there was difference in ink and handwriting," the court noted, terming the findings "patently erroneous" and "perverse". Citing Supreme Court's landmark Madhuri Patil judgment, the bench reiterated that pre-Independence documents carry greater evidentiary value in caste verification matters and warned against excessive dependence on affinity tests alone.