1 IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT BOMBAY BENCH AT AURANGABAD. 921 WRIT PETITION NO.3364 OF 2024 Rushikesh Bhagwat Dhage Versus The State Of Maharashtra Through Its Principal Secretary And Others ….. Shri. M. P. Kale, Advocate for the Petitioner Shri. S. B. Pulkundwar, AGP for the Respondent / State. Shri. A. M. Gaikwad, Advocate for Respondent Nos. 2 to 4 ….. CORAM : R. G. AVACHAT AND NEERAJ P. DHOTE, JJ. Dated : JULY 10, 2025 PER COURT :- . The Petitioner has been selected to the post of ‘ Electrical Assistant’ vide order dated 26.07.2023. Clause 9 of his appointment order suggests that the Petitioner was required to place before the appointing authority a Character Certificate, issued by the Superintendent of Police of the concerned District. Clause 26 of the appointment order indicates that the Petitioner was required to join the post within a period of five (5) days i.e. on or before 31.07.2023. 2. It is not known as to why the Petitioner did not join the post or was not allowed to join. Be that as it may. The Petitioner produced Character Certificate before the appointing authority wherein a crime vide Cr. No.277/2021 for the offences punishable under Sections 324, 323, 504, 506 r/w. Sec. 34 of the Indian Penal Code (for short, ‘I.P.C.’ ) is shown to have been registered against the Petitioner. The criminal case is still pending. The Petitioner had earlier attempted to have the said criminal case quashed, but failed. He has, therefore, approached this Court. 2025:BHC-AUG:18599-DB 2 3. The learned Advocate for the Petitioner invites our attention to the Government Resolution dated 26.08.2014, whereunder certain guidelines have been issued regarding Character Certificate to be considered in the cases of appointment to service with the State Government. A list of specific crimes (illustrative in nature) has been appended to the said G.R., which may disqualify a person from appointment. We have carefully perused the same and found that offence punishable under Section 325 of the I.P.C. (old), if pending against the concerned candidate, he would be ineligible for appointment, whereas the crime registered against the Petitioner herein is punishable under Section 324 of the I.P.C. along with related offences mentioned above. The same suggests that the offence punishable under Section 324 of the IPC was serious amongst those registered against the Petitioner, but the same does not find place in the list appended to the said G.R., meaning thereby as per the State Government policy the Petitioner may be considered for appointment, even if such kind of offence, as has been registered against him, is pending trial. 4. Learned Advocate for the Respondent – MSEDCL submits that the said G.R. has not been adopted by it. It needs no mention that the MSEDCL is one of the undertakings / Companies that previously functioned as the Electricity Board under the control of the State Government. 5. One of the clauses in G. R. dated 26.08.2014 reads thus: “gs vkns'k 'kkldh;] fue'kkldh; dk;kZy;s] egkuxjikfydk] uxjikfydk] ftYgk ifj"knk] 'kkldh; vuqnkuizkIr laLFkk] fon~;kihBs] lgdkjh laLFkk] 'kkldh; midzes] egkeaMGs] eaMGs bR;knhauk ykxw jkgrhy-” 3 6. Schedule ‘ A’ reads thus: 4 7. Clause 9 of the appointment order in so many words speaks of a decision to be taken by the appointing authority as regards cancellation of the appointment in case of there being adverse character certificate, meaning thereby it is for the appointing authority to take a call. In the present case, the appointing authority has not decided to revoke the appointment of the Petitioner. Since the appointment was for three (3) years and the period thereof has not yet been over, we hereby direct the appointing authority to consider every aspect of the matter in light of the observations herein and decide whether to allow the Petitioner to join the post pursuant to the appointment letter / order dated 26.07.2023. The exercise shall be completed within a period of four (4) weeks from the date of receipt of copy of this order. 5 8. Writ Petition stands disposed off in the aforesaid terms. ( NEERAJ P. DHOTE, J. ) ( R. G. AVACHAT, J. ) GGP Signed by: Gajanan G. Punde Designation: PA To Honourable Judge Date: 17/07/2025 14:45:34