1 FARAD CONTINUATION SHEET NO. IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT BOMBAY APPELLATE SIDE NAGPUR BENCH, NAGPUR WRIT PETITION No. 113/2008 (Nitin Shankarrao Chiwhane Vs The State & ors.) Appeal District : Application No. of 200 Writ petition Office Notes, Office Memoranda of Coram, appearances, Court's orders or directions Court's or Judge's orders and Registrar's orders. Mr. Thakare h/f Mr. Parchure Adv. for the petitioner. Mr. S.J. Jichkar, A.G.P., for R-1. Mr. P.B. Patil, Adv. for R- 3. CORAM :D.D. SINHA & SMT. VASANTI A. NAIK, JJ. DATED : FEBRUARY 16, 2008. Heard the learned counsel for the parties. The caste claim of the petitioner was invalidated by the Committee for Scrutiny and Verification of Tribe Claims, Nagpur, vide order dated 17/3/2001, along with the other family members of the petitioner. The petitioner challenged the said order before this Court by filing Writ Petition No. 2039/2003 which was disposed of by this Court vide order dated 20th April, 2006, which reads as under: “The order impugned by this petition will have to be set aside in view of the fact 2 that in relation to another person a prayer of the petitioner has been allowed and it has been set aside by this court in Writ Petition No. 4391 of 2001. In the result, petition succeeds and it is allowed. The impugned order dated 17th March, 2001 is set aside. The Petitioner shall be at liberty to approach the employer for proper relief.” The learned counsel for the petitioner contended that in view of the said order, the petitioner has given a letter to the Caste Scrutiny Committee dated 1/7/2006, wherein it is requested that the Committee may grant Caste Validity Certificate to the petitioner. Mr. Patil, the learned counsel for the Caste Scrutiny Committee, has submitted that the claim of the petitioner was invalidated by the Caste Scrutiny Committee vide order dated 13/7/2001, however, merely because brother of the petitioner i.e. Jayant Shankar Chiwhane was granted validity certificate by the Caste Scrutiny Committee, that by itself will not be a ground to issue validity certificate to the petitioner in view of 3 the decision of the Apex Court in Maduri Patil's case reported in AIR 1995 Supreme Court 94. In the backdrop of the above referred facts, particularly in view of the decision of the Apex Court in Madhuri Patil's , merely because the caste claim of the close relative is validated by the concerned Caste Scrutiny Committee, that by itself cannot be a ground for issuing validity certificate for other member of his/her family. Caste Scrutiny Committee is expected to consider the caste claim of each and every member of the family, on its own merits. However, grant of validity certificate in favour of the other members of the family is one of the grounds which is required to be considered by the Caste Scrutiny Committee while granting Caste Validity Certificate. In the circumstances, we dispose of the petition with a direction to the Caste Scrutiny Committee to consider the caste claim of the petitioner on its own merits according to law and procedure applicable in 4 this regard, within a period of three months from the date of communication of this order. JUDGE JUDGE RMP