1 IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT BOMBAY BENCH AT AURANGABAD WRIT PETITION NO. 599 OF 2007 Tulshiram S/o Dhodusa Prabhakar .. Petitioner Versus The State of Maharashtra and others .. .. Respondents Shri S. K. Chavan, Advocate h/f Shri V. D. Salunke, Advocate for the Petitioner. Shri S. K. Tambe, Advocate for the Respondents No. 1 and 3. Shri B. L. Sagar Killarikar, Advocate for the Respondent No. 2. Shri Pramod Gapat, Advocate h/f Shri M. P. Tripathi, Advocate for the Respondent No. 4. CORAM : B. R. GAVAI, AND N. D. DESHPANDE, JJ. DATE : 23RD SEPTEMBER, 2009. ORAL ORDER [Per B. R. Gavai, J. ] : 1. Rule. Rule made returnable forthwith. Heard by consent. 2. The petitioner claimed to be belonging to Pathkar caste which is recognized as Other Backward Class. The petitioner had contested 2 election to the Municipal Council, Manwat on a seat reserved for O.B.C. candidate and was elected to the Municipal Council against the said post. The petitioner was, therefore, required to submit his caste certificate to the respondent No. 2/Committee for the purpose of scrutiny. Accordingly, the caste certificate was submitted by the petitioner to the Committee. However, since the claim of the petitioner was not decided within a reasonable period and since the petitioner apprehended his disqualification in view of the provisions of Section 9A of the Maharashtra Municipal Councils, Nagar Panchayats and Industrial Townships Act, 1965, the petitioner approached to this Court by way of present petition. 3. This Court vide order dated 15th February, 2007 had directed the respondent No. 2 Scrutiny Committee, to decide the caste claim of the petitioner and had further directed that respondents shall not notify the vacancy and take steps for filling of said vacancy till further orders of this Court. 4. During the pendency of the petition, the claim of the petitioner of belonging to O.B.C. caste has been validated and accordingly committee has issued a validity certificate dated 12th November, 2008. In that view of the matter, the grievance of the petitioner in so far as not deciding the claim of the petitioner does not survive. 5. We further direct that, since now the petitioner has been declared to be belonging to O.B.C. caste, he shall be entitled to continue as councillor of the respondent No. 4/Municipal Council, 3 Manwat as duly elected from reserved category. The Rule is made absolute in above terms with no order as to costs. [ N. D. DESHPANDE, J.] [ B. R. GAVAI, J.] bsb/Sept. 09