1 IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE OF BOMBAY BENCH AT AURANGABAD WRIT PETITION NO.2975 OF 1999 Smita D/o.Sudhakar Chanchalwad, Age-17 years, Occu-Student, Minor, through her father- Sudhakar S/o.Tulshiram Chanchalwad, Age-44 years, Occu-Service, R/o.Degloor, Tq.Degloor, Dist : Nanded PETITIONER VERSUS 1. The State of Maharashtra 2. The Committee for Scrutiny and Verification of Tribe Claims, Nashik, through its Member Secretary, Adivasi Bhavan, Old Agra Road, Nashik-2 3. The Director of Medical Education and Research, Mumbai. RESPONDENTS Mr.S.R.Barlinge, learned counsel for the petitioner. Mr.K.B.Chaudhary, learned AGP for respondent no.1 and 3 Mr.U.S.Malte, learned counsel for respondent no.2. (CORAM : P.V.HARDAS, AND A.V.POTDAR, J.J.) DATE : 21/08/2009 2 ORAL JUDGMENT : (Per P.V.Hardas, J.) 1. Rule. Rule made returnable forthwith. With the consent of learned counsels for the parties, this petition is heard finally at the stage of admission. 2. This is a petition under Article 226 of The Constitution of India which takes exception to an order passed by the respondent Scrutiny Committee dated 21/05/1999 invalidating the tribe claim of the petitioner as belonging to Mahadev Koli, Scheduled Tribe. The petitioner had applied for verification of a tribe claim as she intended to prosecute further studies and accordingly the certificate of the petitioner issued to her by the competent authorities, came to be referred to the respondent Scrutiny Committee for verification. The petitioner in support of her claim as belonging to Koli Mahadev Scheduled Tribe, submitted several documents. Upon consideration of the material placed on record by the petitioner, the respondent Scrutiny Committee by the order impugned in the present petition invalidated the tribe claim of the petitioner as belonging to Koli Mahadev Scheduled Tribe. The petitioner therefore has filed the present petition assailing the order of the Scrutiny Committee. 3. During the pendancy of this petition it appears that the tribe claim of the real brother of the petitioner by name Pankaj Sudhakar Chanchalwad came to be validated by the respondent Scrutiny Committee and the petitioner therefore filed civil application no. 8241/2008 in this Court seeking early hearing of this petition as well 3 as injunction. The petitioner has categorically prayed in the said civil application that since the claim of her real brother has been validated by order of the Scrutiny Committee dated 29/12/2007, the necessary orders be passed in the pending petition. The Division Bench of this Court therefore by order dated 02/02/2009 directed that the petition be placed for final hearing in the week commencing from 6th April 2009. Unfortunately it appears that the petition was not heard on the date on which it was ordered to be placed for hearing. 4. Be that as it may, since the claim of the real brother of the petitioner has been validated by the Scrutiny Committee, according to us, the matter needs to be remitted back to the Scrutiny Committee for a decision afresh after taking into consideration the effect of validity granted to the tribe status of the real brother of the petitioner. 5. In the light of that therefore this petition was heard though it is not listed for final hearing with the consent of the learned counsels for the parties. This petition is therefore allowed. Impugned order is hereby quashed and set aside and the matter is remitted back to the Scrutiny Committee for a decision afresh in the light of the validity granted to the real brother of the petitioner. In order to assist the Scrutiny Committee in the expeditious disposal of the tribe claim of the petitioner, we direct the petitioner to appear before the Committee on 14/09/2009 and further direct the committee to decide the tribe claim of the petitioner within 3 months thereafter. 4 6. Rule is thus made absolute on the above terms with no order as to costs. (A.V.POTDAR, J.) (P.V.HARDAS, J.) khs/AUGUST 2009/wp2975-99