-: 1 :- HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT BOMBAY CIVIL APPELLATE JURISDICTION WRIT PETITION NO. 5879 OF 2007 alongwith CIVIL APPLICATION NO. 936 OF 2010 IN WRIT PETITION NO. 5879 OF 2007 Nilesh Prakash Thakur. ..Petitioner. Versus State of Maharashtra & Others ..Respondents. Mr. R. K. Mendadkar for the petitioner. Mr. V. S. Gokhale, AGP for the respondent nos. 1 to 4. Coram : A.M.KHANWILKAR & R. M. SAVANT, JJ. Date : April 13, 2010. P. C. : 1. Heard counsel for the parties. By this petition it is prayed that respondent no.5 be directed to consider the application of the petitioner for grant of GoI scholarship with caste validity certificate. It is further prayed by way of civil application that writ petition no. 5879 of 2007 be placed for hearing expeditiously. Accordingly this application as well as writ petition are taken up for hearing together by consent of the parties. 2. Insofar as writ petition is concerned, the principal prayer is to direct respondent no.2 – Committee to decide the caste claim of the petitioner and issue validity certificate and till such time respondent nos. 4 & 5 should not -: 2 :- cancel the admission of the petitioner solely on the ground that the petitioner has not produced the caste validity certificate before 31st August 2007. For the nature of controversy brought before this Court, we think it appropriate to dispose of this petition with direction to respondent no.2 – Committee to expeditiously decide the caste claim of the petitioner and in any case not later than four weeks from today. The petitioner shall appear in the office of respondent no.2 – Committee on 23rd April 2010, on which date the Committee shall proceed with the hearing or fix some suitable date as may be convenient to the Committee while ensuring that final decision on the caste claim of the petitioner is taken not later than four weeks from today and is duly communicated to the petitioner within the same time. 3. Until the final decision is taken by respondent no.2, no coercive action be taken against the petitioner. Respondent nos.4 & 5 shall allow the petitioner to continue with the engineering course subject to the decision of the Scrutiny Committee. In the event the decision is adverse to the petitioner, the petitioner will not be permitted to claim equity at a later point of time. 4. Since we have directed respondent no.2 Committee to expeditiously dispose of the caste claim of the petitioner, it is not necessary to pass any orders on prayer clause (a) of the civil application. That prayer can be examined subject to the decision of the Scrutiny Committee if such occasion arises. We leave that question open. 5. Accordingly writ petition as well as civil application is disposed of on -: 3 :- the above terms. 6. It is made clear that in the event decision of the Scrutiny Committee is adverse to the petitioner, the same shall be kept in abeyance for a period of two weeks from the date of service of such order to enable the petitioner to challenge the same before the appropriate forum, if so advised. (R.M. SAVANT, J.) (A.M.KHANWILKAR, J.)