1 IN THE HIGHI COURT OF JUDICATURE AT BOMBAY BENCH AT AURANGABAD. WRIT PETITION NO. 6103 OF 2011 Dharmendra Vilas Thakur Age 26 years, Occ. Service, R/o. Dharangaon, Tq; Dharangaon, District Jalgon At Present Jalgaon. Tq. & Dist. Jalgaon. VERSUS 1] Scheduled Tribe Certificate Scrutiny committee Nandurbar through member secretary 2] District Superintendent of Police, Jalgaon, Dist. Jalgaon. ... Advocate for Petitioner(s) : Mr. S.S. Phatale, Advocate holding for Mr. M.S. Deshmukh , Advocate. AGP for Respondent(s): Mrs. A.V. Gondhalekar. ... CORAM : B R GAVAI & M.T. JOSHI, JJ. Dated: August 16, 2011 ... ORAL JUDGMENT :- [ PER B.R. GAVAI, J.] 1] Rule. Rule made returnable forthwith. The limited grievance raised in the present petition is that, though the caste claim of the petitioner for scrutiny of his claim of belonging to Thakur Scheduled Tribe is pending with respondent No.1, respondent No.2 has issued the impugned communication dated 14/4/2011, thereby directing the petitioner to submit caste validity certificate within 15 days. It is further 2 stated in the communication that on failure to do so, the petitioner would be terminated from service. 3] The petitioner cannot be penalized for inaction on the part of respondent No.1- committee, in not deciding the caste claim of the petitioner within the stipulated period. Petition is, therefore, disposed of with a direction to respondent No.1 – Committee to decide the caste claim of the petitioner in accordance with law, as expeditiously as possible and in any event, within six months from today. The impugned communication dated 14/7/2011 is also quashed and set aside. It is directed that until the caste claim of the petitioner is not decided, no coercive steps would be taken against the petitioner. In the event, respondent No.1 committee passes an order adverse to the interest of the petitioner, same shall not be given effect to, for a period of 4 weeks from the date of communication of the order passed by respondent No.1- Committee. Rule made absolute in aforesaid terms, with no orders as to costs. (M.T. JOSHI, J. ) ( B R GAVAI, J. ) grt/-