{1} IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE OF BOMBAY BENCH AT AURANGABAD WRIT PETITION NO.6539 OF 2009 Pandurang s/o Malram Bolewad Age-20 years, Occ-Education R/o Vottal, Tq-Degloor, Dist-Nanded Through power of attorney holder Mr.Suresh Gangaram Dubbalwar Age-35 years, Occ-Agri. R/o Degloor, Dist-Nanded PETITIONER VERSUS 1. The State of Maharashtra Through Secretary, Tribal Development Department, Mantralaya, Mumbai 2. The Scheduled Tribe Caste Certificate Verification Committee, Aurangabad Through its Dy.Director (R) 3. The Sub Divisional Officer, Dgloor, Dist-Nanded RESPONDENTS ....... Mr.S.M.Vibhute, Advocate for petitioner Mr.N.N.Jadhav, AGP for respondents No.1 and 3 Mr.R.P.Phatke, advocate for respondent No.2 ....... [CORAM : P.V.HARDAS, and A.V.POTDAR, J.J.] DATE: 1st October 2009 ORAL JUDGMENT (PER A.V.POTDAR, J.) : 1. Rule. Rule returnable forthwith. With the consent of learned {2} counsel for the parties this petition is heard finally at the stage of admission. 2. By the present petition, under Article 226 of the Constitution of India, the petitioner has challenged the order dated 30.03.2009 passed by the Scrutiny Committee thereby dismissing the appeal of the petitioner and upholding the order passed by the Sub Divisional Officer dated 26.02.2009 by which the Sub Divisional Officer had rejected the application of the petitioner. 3. The facts which gave rise to file the present petition may briefly be stated thus - The petitioner had filed an application before the Sub Divisional officer, Degloor seeking caste certificate claiming to be belonging to Koli Mahadeo Scheduled Tribe. The petitioner had also submitted various documents along with this application, including the caste validity certificate issued to the real brother of the petitioner. It is contended that the Sub Divisional Officer, without considering this document, vide order dated 26.02.2009, rejected the application of the petitioner by observing that the documents produced by the petitioner are not sufficient to issue caste certificate as prayed for. It further appears that being aggrieved by the said order the petitioner preferred an appeal before the Scrutiny Committee. However, it appears that the said appeal came to be dismissed by the Scrutiny Committee vide order dated 30.03.2009 and uphold the decision of the Sub Divisional Officer. The said orders are impugned in the present petition. 4. Heard learned counsel for the parties. {3} 5. Learned counsel appearing for the petitioner invited our attention towards the caste validity certificate issued to the real brother of the petitioner on 16.09.2006 by the Scrutiny Committee, Aurangabad. It prima facie appears that this document is sufficient to issue caste certificate to the petitioner. It also appears that this document is not properly considered by the Sub Divisional Officer as well as by the Scrutiny Committee and erroneously rejected the claim of the petitioner. In the premise, the impugned orders, require to be quash and set aside. Accordingly, this petition succeeds. We hereby quash and set aside the impugned orders dated 30.03.2009 and 26.02.2009 passed by the Scrutiny Committee and the Sub Divisional Officer, respectively. We direct the Sub Divisional Officer, Degloor, to issue caste certificate to the petitioner to the effect that he belongs to Koli Mahadeo scheduled Tribe, forthwith. 6. Needless to state that the caste certificate to be issued will be subject to verification by the competent scrutiny committee. 7. Rule is thus made absolute on the above terms with no order as to costs. [A.V.POTDAR, J.] [P.V.HARDAS, J.] drp/wp6539-09