28-WP-11732-2025(C).doc IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT BOMBAY CIRCUIT BENCH AT KOLHAPUR CIVIL APPELLATE JURISDICTION WRIT PETITION NO. 11732 OF 2025 Nagnath Hanmant Balwantrao ...Petitioner Versus The State of Maharashtra and Others ...Respondents —————— Mr. Satish Raut (Through V.C.) a/w Ms. Prajakta Kamble, Mr. Ashitosh Jambilkar, for the Petitioner. Mr. Siddheshwar B. Kalel, AGP for the Respondent-State. —————— CORAM : SHARMILA U. DESHMUKH & NEERAJ P. DHOTE, JJ. DATE : SEPTEMBER 08, 2026. P. C. : 1. By the present Petition, the Petitioner impugns the Judgment and Order dated 23rd June, 2022, passed by the Respondent No.2 – Committee, invalidating the caste certificate of the Petitioner as belonging to the Koli Mahadev Scheduled Tribe. 2. The learned Counsel appearing for the Petitioner would point out that the oldest document produced at Serial No. 6 of Paragraph 4B of the impugned order is in respect of his paternal aunt, reflecting the birth entry dated 24th March, 1934 as “Mahadev Koli”. He would further point out the document annexed at page 46 of the present Petition, as Jamadar-SL 1 of 3 2026:BHC-KOL:8669-DB 28-WP-11732-2025(C).doc also the inquiry report at page 62, certifying the genuineness of the entry in respect of the paternal aunt. He has taken this Court through the findings in the impugned order to contend that there is no consideration by the Caste Scrutiny Committee in respect of the said entry and that, entries of the other blood relatives have been rejected by the Committee on the ground that there appears to be interpolation. 3. The learned AGP would point out Paragraph 6 of the impugned order, where the Committee has noted that the caste validity certificates granted to some of the blood relatives of the Petitioner have been invalidated. He submits that those Petitions are still pending and, therefore, the Committee has rightly rejected the validity of the Petitioner as belonging to Koli Mahadev Scheduled Tribe. 4. There is no dispute about the fact that the Petitioner had placed for consideration the register of birth reflecting the birth entry of his paternal aunt, Shakubai of the year 1934 showing caste as Mahadev Koli, which entry was also found to be genuine in the inquiry report. The impugned order does not indicate any consideration of the said document. 5. Though the learned Counsel appearing for the Petitioner would seek this Court to consider the issue of validity, we are not inclined to do so, particularly when Paragraph 6 of the impugned order makes a reference to some of the caste validity certificates having been Jamadar-SL 2 of 3 28-WP-11732-2025(C).doc invalidated by the Committee in respect of the Petitioner's blood relatives. As there is no consideration of the document of paternal aunt, we are inclined to remit the application to the file of the Caste Scrutiny Committee to be decided afresh by taking into consideration the document at Serial No. 6 of Paragraph 4B of impugned order in respect of the Petitioner's paternal aunt, reflecting the entry of “Mahadev Koli”. 6. In light of the above, the impugned order dated 23rd June, 2023 is hereby quashed and set aside. 7. The application is remitted to the file of the Caste Scrutiny Committee to be decided afresh by considering the document of the paternal aunt. 8. As the Petitioner's pension has been withheld, the Caste Scrutiny Committee is directed to decide the validity expeditiously and, in any event, within a period of four weeks from today. 9. The Petition is allowed in the above terms. [NEERAJ P. DHOTE, J.] [SHARMILA U. DESHMUKH, J.] Jamadar-SL 3 of 3