1 IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT BOMBAY APPELLATE SIDE, BENCH AT AURANGABAD WRIT PETITION NO.5308 OF 2010 Md. Mustak Khan Asad Khan ... PETITIONER VERSUS The State of Maharashtra & ors. ... RESPONDENTS ..... Shri U.R. Aute, Advocate holding for Shri S.B. Talekar, Advocate for the petitioner Mrs. A.V. Gondhalekar, A.G.P. for respondents ..... CORAM: P.V. HARDAS & N.D. DESHPANDE, JJ. DATED: 21st June, 2010 PER COURT : 1. This is a petition under Article 226 of the Constitution of India, by which the petitioner takes exception to the order dated 12.2.1998, passed by the respondent/ Scrutiny Committee, granting validity certificate to the respondent No.3, as belonging to “Momin” caste. The petitioner, out of election of rivalry, has filed the present petition. 2. With the assistance of learned counsel for the parties, we have perused the order of the respondent/ Scrutiny Committee. The respondent/ Scrutiny Committee has given reasons as to why it found 2 that there was overwhelming evidence in respect of claim of respondent No.3 for being issued with the certificate as belonging to “Momin” caste. The petitioner has alleged that, in the certificate of respondent No.3, the the caste as “Momin” was not recorded, in the column meant for caste, “Islam” was recorded. Obviously, Islam is a religion and not a caste. At the most, it could be stated that the caste was not recorded and the aforesaid document or documentary evidence cannot be considered as material/ evidence which would falsify the claim of respondent No.3 as belonging to “Momin” caste. 3. In this writ, filed taking exception to the order of the respondent/ Scrutiny Committee, we cannot re-appreciate the evidence. We do not notice any perversity in the reasoning of the respondent/ Scrutiny Committee to entertain the present petition. The validity certificate has been granted way back in 1998 and practically is being challenged in this Court after 12 years. 4. For the aforesaid reasons, we do not find any merit in the present petition and the petition is, therefore, summarily dismissed with no order as to costs. (N.D. DESHPANDE, J.) (P.V. HARDAS, J.) fmp/wp5308.10