/ 1/ IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT BOMBAY CIVIL APPELLATE JURISDICTION WRIT PETITION NO.6587 OF 2007 Babaso Papa Bairagdar ...Petitioner V/s. State of Maharashtra & Ors. ...Respondents Mr.S.S. Patwardhan for Petitioner. Mr.C.R. Sonawane AGP for Respondent No.1 & 2. Mr.A.M. Kulkarni for Respondent No.5. CORAM : D.K. DESHMUKH & V.M. KANADE, JJ. DATED : 14th FEBRUARY, 2008 P.C.:- 1. Rule returnable forthwith. Heard finally by consent of the parties. 2. Admitted position is that the petitioner contested the election from one of the wards of Bubnal Village Panchayat from a seat reserved for other backward class. He claimed that he belongs to other backward class. He produced a certificate issued by the Sub-Division Officer certifying that he belongs to 'Gavandi' caste which is included in the list of other backward class. Admittedly, the petitioner has been declared elected as a member of the Respondent No.4 Bubnal Village Panchayat. The certificate of the petitioner / 2/ was sent for scrutiny to the Caste Scrutiny committee. The Caste Scrutiny Committee sent an intimation dated 18/06/2007 which reads as under:- “The caste certificate No.MAG/Sr.No.S/537/05 dated 3/06/2005 issued by SDO, Ichalkaranji showing the caste of Shri.Babaso Papa Bairagdar as “Gavandi-45 is declared as invalid.” 3. As a consequence, seat held by the petitioner was declared vacant. Bye-election was held. At the bye-election, the respondent No.5 has been elected. 4. The learned counsel appearing for the petitioner submits that the order dated 18/06/2007 is invalid. The Caste Scrutiny Committee has not given any reasons for holding that the caste certificate of the petitioner is invalid. 5. The learned counsel appearing for Respondent No.2 - Scrutiny Committee is also not in a position to point out that any reasons are given by the Respondent No.2 - Scrutiny Committee for the order which it has made. Now it goes without saying that the order declaring caste certificate issued in favour of a person certifying that he belongs to other backward class on the / 3/ basis of which he gets elected as a member of village Panchayat as invalid would have serious consequence. Therefore, an order declaring the caste certificate to be invalid will have to be made in consonance with the principle of natural justice. One of the principles of natural justice is that the authority should give reasons for the order that it makes which has adverse consequence. The Caste Scrutiny Committee, admittedly, has not given any reasons and, therefore, its order dated 18/06/2007 is violative of the principles of natural justice and liable to be set aside. 6. Now really speaking, as we have held that the order dated 18/06/2007 is invalid, the Bye-election will have to be set aside because the Bye-election was held because of that order. But, in our opinion, it will not be proper to set aside the Bye-election at this juncture. However, in case the Caste Scrutiny Committee finds that the caste certificate produced by the petitioner is valid, in our opinion, there is no justification to deprive the petitioner of his elective office. In our opinion, therefore, following order would meet the ends of justice. 1. Order dated 18/06/2007 passed by the Caste Scrutiny Committee is set aside. Matter is remanded back to the Caste / 4/ Scrutiny committee for de novo hearing and decision in accordance with law. 2. It is directed that in case the Caste Scrutiny Committee finds that the certificate submitted by the petitioner is valid, the declaration declaring the Respondent No.5 elected as a member of Respondent No.4 shall stand set aside and the petitioner shall be entitled to continue to be a member of the Respondent No.4 Bubnal Village Panchayat till he completes his tenure as per law. . Rule is made absolute in the above terms. There shall be no order as to costs. ( D.K. DESHMUKH, J.) (V.M. KANADE, J.)