IN THE HIGH COURT OF UTTARAKHAND AT NAINITAL Writ Petition (M/S) No. 761 of 2010. Meghnath Singh aged about 50 years, S/O Late Sri Het Ram Singh and five others … Petitioners. Vs. State of Uttarakhand through its Secretary, Social Welfare Department, Dehradun, District Dehradun and three others. …Respondents. WITH (1) Writ Petition (M/S) No. 756 of 2010. Khem Singh, aged about 40 years, S/O Late Sri Het Ram Singh and three others … Petitioners. Vs. State of Uttarakhand through its Secretary, Social Welfare Department, Dehradun, District Dehradun and three others. …Respondents. (2)Writ Petition (M/S) No. 758 of 2010. Hari Singh, aged about 39 years, S/O Late Sri Ganeshi Singh and three others … Petitioners. Vs. State of Uttarakhand through its Secretary, Social Welfare Department, Dehradun, District Dehradun and three others. …Respondents. (3)Writ Petition (M/S) No. 759 of 2010. Om Prakash Singh, aged about 48 years, S/O Late Sri Tulsi Singh and four others … Petitioners. Vs. State of Uttarakhand through its Secretary, Social Welfare Department, Dehradun, District Dehradun and three others. …Respondents. (4)Writ Petition (M/S) No. 760 of 2010. Jaiveer Singh, aged about 43 years, S/O Sri Nanhe Singh and four others … Petitioners. Vs. State of Uttarakhand through its Secretary, Social Welfare Department, Dehradun, District Dehradun and three others. …Respondents. 2 Mr.Rakesh Thapliyal, Advocate, learned counsel for the petitioners. Mr. K.P.Upadhyay, learned Additional C.S.C. for the respondents. Date May 19, 2010. Hon’ble B.S.Verma, J. Since the controversy involved in all these five writ petitions is similar, therefore, for the sake of convenience, they are being decided by this common order. By means of these writ petitions, the petitioners have sought the following relief:- I. Issue a writ, order or direction in the nature of certiorari quashing the impugned order dated 14th May 2003 passed by the Tehsildar, Kashipur, District Udham Singh Nagar. II. Issue a writ, order or direction in the nature of mandamus directing the respondents particularly the District Magistrate Udham Singh Nagar to take a final decision on a report submitted by the SDM Kashipur, District Udham Singh Nagar dated 04-08-2008 within the stipulated period to be fixed by this Hon’ble Court and till then the order of Tehsildar dated 14-5-2003 may also be kept in abeyance. III. Issue a writ, order or direction in the nature of mandamus directing the respondents to consider the application of the petitioners for issuance of fresh caste certificate in the prescribed format it so required for any other purpose after taking into consideration the documents relied upon by the petitioners in a true spirit. IV Issue any suitable writ, order or direction, which this Hon’ble Court may deem fit and proper on the basis of the facts and circumstances of the case. V Award the cost of the petition to the petitioners. According to the petitioners, they claim themselves to be members of the Scheduled Caste and they were granted Scheduled Caste certificates earlier but those certificates were cancelled by the Tehsildar, Kashipur, by order dated 14-5-2003. Aggrieved by the said order dated 14-5-2003 passed by Tehsildar, Dhangar Samaj Maha Sangh Nainital through Megh Nath Singh Dhangar and 161 other persons filed Writ Petition No. 435 (M/B) of 2005 Dhangr Samaj Maha Sangh Nainital Vs. State of Uttaranchal and three others assailing the order passed by the Tehsildar. A Division Bench of this Court by order dated 23-8-2006 relegated the petitioners to approach the Collector concerned. In 3 paragraph no. 3 of the order, the Division Bench has observed as under:- “3. In view of the above, we relegate the petitioners to approach the Collector concerned who shall re-examine the matter in detail independently ignoring the finding recorded and report relied upon by the Tehsildar concerned. The petitioners shall file applications independently against the cancellation of their caste- certificates by the Tehsildar and the Collector concerned shall pass fresh order on the applications of the petitioners.” With the above observation, the writ petition was disposed of finally by the Division Bench of this Court. The grievance of the petitioners is that no decision has been taken by the Collector concerned so far pursuant to the direction given by this Court in Writ Petition NO. 435 (M/B) of 2005, while the Up Ziladhikari Kashipur has already submitted his report on 4-8-2008. The petitioners are made to suffer in the absence of any decision being taken by the Collector in the matter. In the facts and circumstances of the case and in the interest of justice, it is directed that the Collector Udham Singh Nagar shall take a decision on the applications made by the petitioners, for which liberty was given by this Court while deciding Writ Petition NO. 435 (M/B) of 2005 Dhangar Samaj Maha Sangh Nainital and 161 others Vs. State of Uttaranchal and three others by order dated 23-8- 2006, expeditiously, preferably within a period of 8 weeks without any further delay in the matter. The petitioners shall also be also afforded opportunity of hearing before taking decision in the matter by the Collector. With the above directions, all the five writ petitions are disposed of finally. (B.S.Verma,J.) RCP 4