1 lgc IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT BOMBAY CIVIL APPELLATE JURISDICTION WRIT PETITION NO.1986 OF 2007 Vijay Bhau Kudtarkar : Petitioner versus The State of Maharashtra & ors. : Respondents. Mr.V M Thorat a/w Mr Pramod Patil for the Petitioner Mr C R Sonawane, AGP, for the Respondent Nos. 1 to 4. Mr. Y S Jahagirdar, Senior Advocate, a/w Mr.R K Mendadkar for the Respondent No.5 CORAM : S B MHASE & R M SAVANT, JJ. DATE : 8th September 2009 P.C. 1. In the midst of hearing the learned counsel for both the sides have arrived at a consensus, on the basis of the instructions of their clients who are present in the Court. In view of said consensus and on the basis of the concession given across the Bar we pass the following order :- :ORDER: A] The impugned order dated 4th July 2003 passed by the Scrutiny Committee validating the claim of the Respondent No.5 as belonging to Mali caste i.e. OBC is set aside. The matter is remitted back to the Scrutiny Committee for a trial and decision de novo. 2 B] The Scrutiny Committee shall allow the Petitioner and Respondent No.5 to produce proper documentary evidence in support of their respective claims made out by them. C] The Scrutiny Committee shall also call for a fresh Vigilance Cell Report in the matter and if the Vigilance Cell Report is adverse, a copy of the same shall be served upon the Respondent No.5 and an opportunity of hearing should be given to the Respondent No.5 to represent against the said Report. A copy of the said Vigilance Cell Report would also be furnished to the Petitioner. D] If the parties desire to lead oral evidence of any of the witnesses, who were either examined by the Vigilance Cell and/or otherwise, the Scrutiny Committee shall allow the parties to lead the said oral evidence and if necessary allow the rival parties to cross examine the said witnesses and after giving an opportunity to both the parties, as stated above, the Scrutiny Committee shall decide the matter afresh considering the matter on remand under Sections 6 and 7 of the The Maharashtra Scheduled Caste, Scheduled Tribes, De-notified Tribes (Vimukta Jatis), Nomadic Tribes, Other Backward Classes and Special 3 Backward Category (Regulation of Issuance and Verification of) Caste Certificate Act, 2000 and for the said purpose the Scrutiny Committee will call for the documents on the basis of which the caste certificate has been given by competent authority and the documents submitted before the competent authority in support of the said caste claim and shall verify the total case under Section 7 of the said Act also. After completing this exercise, a fresh order shall be passed by the Scrutiny Committee by giving appropriate reasons to the points raised and argued by the Petitioner and Respondent No.5 before the Scrutiny Committee. The aforesaid exercise shall be completed by the Scrutiny Committee within a period of four months from date by passing a final order. E] In the mean time the Petitioner and Respondent No.5 have submitted before this Court that they will not proceed with the Election Petition No.25 of 2007 pending before the Small Causes Court, Bombay. In view of the concession given by the parties, as stated above, we direct the Small Causes Court, Bombay not to proceed with the said Election Petition No.25 of 2007 till the decision of the Scrutiny Committee. 4 F] On remand, in the event, the order is adverse to either side, the parties would be at liberty to adopt the appropriate remedy. In case the claim of the Respondent No.5 is invalidated, no further steps in furtherance of the said order would be taken for a period of 15 days so as to enable him to file appropriate proceedings to challenge the said order. G] We make it clear that the aforesaid order is passed upon the concession given by the learned counsel for both the sides in the open court, we have not considered the matter on merits and the Scrutiny Committee shall not be under impression that the matter has been considered on merits and therefore such an order has been passed. H] With the aforesaid directions, the above Petition is disposed of. [R.M.SAVANT, J] [S.B.MHASE, J]