1 IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT BOMBAY BENCH AT AURANGABAD WRIT PETITION NO. 3744 OF 2007 Shakeel Ahmedkhan S/o Ahmed Shahkhan Pathan, Age : 45 Years, Occu. : Service, R/o C/o Rasheed Ahmed Khan, Mumtaz Colony, Dhar Road, Parbhani, Tq. & Dist. Parbhani. .. Petitioner Versus 1. The State of Maharashtra. 2. Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation, Parbhani Division, Parbhani through its Divisional Controller. 3. The Scheduled Tribe Certificate Scrutiny Committee, Kashmira Bhavan, Aurangabad. .. Respondents Shri D. V. Soman, Advocate for the Petitioner. The Assistant Government Pleader for the Respondent No. 1. Shri A. D. Wange, Advocate for the Respondent No. 2. Shri R. P. Phatake, Advocate for the Respondent No. 3. 2 CORAM : NARESH H. PATIL, AND N. D. DESHPANDE, JJ. DATE : 12TH APRIL, 2010. ORAL JUDGMENT [Per NARESH H. PATIL, J. ] : . Heard. 02. Rule. Rule made returnable forthwith. Taken up for final hearing with consent of parties. 03. It is surprising that the petitioner's caste claim so far is not decided and if decided the file is not traced out by the Scrutiny Committee. A communication dated 12.04.2010 is placed on record today by the learned counsel Shri Phatake. 04. The petitioner is working with the Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation Parbhani Division. He claims to be belonging to Scheduled Tribe. 05. According to the counsel appearing for the Corporation the petitioner's caste claim was forwarded to the Committee in the year 1995. Since last more than 15 years, the Corporation did 3 not receive any communication from the Committee. 06. In the peculiar facts of the case, we direct that if the Committee fails to trace out the file, then the petitioner's case must be dealt with afresh on merits and his caste claim to be decided. The Corporation shall forward fresh proposal to the Committee with available evidence for verification of petitioner's caste claim. The petitioner undertakes to co-operate with the committee in this regard. 07. The petitioner shall appear before the Committee on 26th April, 2010 at 11.00 a.m. The Committee shall finally decide the caste claim of the petitioner within six months from receipt of this order, on its own merits. For a period of six months no adverse order shall be passed against the petitioner for want of validity certificate. All issues are kept open. The rule is made absolute in above terms. The writ petition is disposed of. [ N. D. DESHPANDE, J.] [NARESH H. PATIL, J.] bsb/April 10