(1) WP 5805.2011 IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT BOMBAY BENCH AT AURANGABAD WRIT PETITION NO. 5805 OF 2011 Pandurang S/o Pralhadrao Pawar PETITIONER VERSUS The State of Maharashtra and ors. RESPONDENTS ..... Mr. Sunil M. Vibhute, Advocate for the Petitioner. Mr. S.K. Tambe, A.G.P. for the Respondent-State. ..... CORAM : B.R. GAVAI AND M.T. JOSHI, JJ. DATED : 26TH AUGUST, 2011 ORAL ORDER: 1. Rule. Rule made returnable forthwith. Heard by consent. 2. The petitioner has received communicated dated 16.7.2011 issued by respondent no. 4 informing him that if he does not get his caste claim decided by the Scrutiny Committee within one month from the date of the letter, his services would be terminated without further notice. There is no dispute that the caste certificate of the petitioner is forwarded to respondent no.2-Committee in May, 2010. Till this date, the Scrutiny Committee has not decided the (2) WP 5805.2011 validity of the caste certificate of the petitioner. In view thereof, the petitioner has also prayed for direction to respondent no.2-Scrutiny Committee to decide his caste claim within a time frame. 3. Having considered the overall facts and circumstances of the case, we are satisfied that this Petition can be conveniently disposed of by the following order: I) Respondent no.2-Scrutiny Committee shall decide the caste claim of the petitioner as expeditiously as possible and preferably within a period of one year from today. II) Learned counsel for respondent no.2-Scrutiny Committee is directed to communicate this order to the Scrutiny Committee within a period of two (2) weeks from today. III) Pending the hearing and final disposal of the caste claim of the petitioner before respondent no.2- Scrutiny Committee, the respondent no.4 shall not terminate his services pursuant to the communication dated 16.7.2011. (3) WP 5805.2011 IV) If the order passed by the Scrutiny Committee is adverse to the petitioner, the same shall remain stayed for a period of 15 days from the date of the order. V) It is open to the respondent no.4 to take appropriate action, if caste certificate of the petitioner is invalidated by respondent no.2-Scrutiny Committee. 4. Rule is accordingly made absolute in the above terms. No order as to costs. Sd/- Sd/- [M. T. JOSHI, J.] [B. R. GAVAI, J.] arp/