1 IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE OF BOMBAY BENCH AT AURANGABAD WRIT PETITION NO. 6462 OF 2009 Umesh S/o.Shivaji Punjarwad, Age-19 years, Occu-Education, R/o.At-Kharatwadi, Post-Digras, Tq.Hadgaon, Dist. Nanded PETITIONER VERSUS 1. The State of Maharashtra, Through Secretary to Tribal Development, Department, Mantralaya, Mumbai. 2. The Scheduled Tribe Caste Certificate Verification Committee Aurangabad, Through its Dy.Director (R), Aurangabad. 3. The Sub Divisional Officer, Kinwat, Dist. Nanded 4. The Collector, Nanded, District – Nanded RESPONDENTS Mr.S.M.Vibhute, learned counsel for the petitioner. Mr.N.N.Jadhav, learned AGP for respondent no.1,3 and 4 Mr.U.S.Malte, learned counsel for respondent no.2 (CORAM : P.V.HARDAS, AND A.V.POTDAR, J.J.) DATE : 01/10/2009 ORAL JUDGMENT : (Per P.V.Hardas, J.) 2 1. Rule. Rule made returnable forthwith. With the consent of learned counsel for the parties, this petition is heard finally at the stage of admission. 2. This is a petition which unfolds a very strange and a curious manner of functioning of the Sub Divisional Officer, Kinwat. 3. The petitioner herein had filed an application for issuance of a caste certificate as belonging to Koli Mahadev Scheduled Tribe. The application filed by the petitioner came to be rejected by The Sub Divisional Officer, Kinwat by an order dated 25/09/2008. The petitioner being aggrieved by the rejection of this application, filed an appeal before the Scrutiny Committee, Aurangabad. The appeal filed by the petitioner came to be allowed by the order of Scrutiny Committee dated 27/02/2009. After the appeal came to be allowed, the Sub Divisional Officer has passed the impugned order dated 09/07/2009 rejecting the application of the petitioner and thereby declining to issue the caste certificate to the petitioner. 4. We are extremely perturb by the action of the Sub Divisional Officer in sitting in appeal over the order of the Appellate Authority. This conduct of the Sub Divisional Officer is most reprehensible and has put the litigant of expense of filing the present petition. The Sub Divisional Officer ought to have forthwith issued the certificate and could not have passed an order sitting as a Appellate Court over the 3 judgment of the Scrutiny Committee which is the Appellate Court. 5. We do not wish to dilate much on the conduct of the Sub Divisional Officer nor we intend to suggest to the respondents for taking any disciplinary action against the Sub Divisional Officer, but we are constrained to observe that the petitioner had filed the document in which the appeal of another applicant had been allowed by the Sub Divisional Officer on the basis of the appellate order and had issued the certificate to the another applicant. We leave it to the Authorities to take whatever action which the authorities consider in Law necessary to be taken to correct the errant approach of the Sub Divisional Officer. 6. We accordingly allow this petition and quash and set aside the order passed by the Sub Divisional Officer and direct the Sub Divisional Officer to forthwith issue the caste certificate to the petitioner pursuant to the order of the Appellate Authority. 7. Rule is thus made absolute on the above terms with no order as to costs. (A.V.POTDAR, J.) (P.V.HARDAS, J.) khs/OCT 2009/wp6462-09