123.WP.7481.2026 1/3 IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT BOMBAY NAGPUR BENCH, NAGPUR WRIT PETITION NO. 7481 OF 2026 Ganesh Premu Hedau Vs. Scheduled Tribe Certificate Scrutiny Committee, Gondia & Anr. ______________________________________________________________________________ Office Notes, Office Memoranda of Coram, Appearances, Court's orders of directions Court's or Judge's order and Registrar's orders. Mr. Janardhan V. Dhakate, Advocate for the Petitioner. Mr. V.A. Thakare, AGP for Respondent No.1. ------------------------------- CORAM : URMILA JOSHI-PHALKE AND R AJ D. WAKODE , JJ. DATE : 28.09.2026 Heard learned counsel for the petitioner. 2. The petitioner has approached this Court seeking a direction to respondent No.1 – Scheduled Tribe Certificate Scrutiny Committee, Gondia, to accept the petitioner’s application for offline verification of his caste claim as ‘Halba’ Scheduled Tribe. 3. Perusal of the communication dated 21.04.2026 issued by the Block Development Officer, Panchayat Samiti, Tasgaon, reveals the procedure to be followed by the petitioner for submission of his caste claim for verification which requires him to submit his application online. 4. Learned counsel for the petitioner submits that, though the petitioner had tried to submit his application online for verification of his caste claim, the application could not be uploaded as the portal rejected the caste certificate on the ground that it was not in the prescribed format. The prescribed 2026:BHC-NAG:12847-DB 123.WP.7481.2026 2/3 format under the applicable statute is Form-C. Admittedly, the caste certificate of the petitioner, placed on record at page No. 58 (Annexure-C), is not in the prescribed Form-C format. Hence, the petitioner has approached this Court seeking a direction to respondent No.1 to accept his application offline, as he is unable to submit the same online. 5. The fact remains that the petitioner is required to follow the procedure prescribed under the provisions of the Maharashtra Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, De-notified Tribes (Vimukta Jatis), Nomadic Tribes, Other Backward Classes and Special Backward Category (Regulation of Issuance and Verification of) Caste Certificate Act, 2000, for verification of his caste claim. 6. The petitioner was appointed as a Multipurpose Health Officer in the year 1992 in the establishment of respondent No.2 – Chief Executive Officer, Zilla Parishad, Sangli. The aforesaid appointment was against a reserved post, as the petitioner claimed belonging to the ‘Halba’ Scheduled Tribe. However, till date, the caste claim of the petitioner has not been verified. 7. In our considered opinion, the petitioner ought to have complied with all the requirements prescribed under the statute for obtaining a caste certificate in Form-C and thereafter submitted the same before the jurisdictional Caste Scrutiny Committee for verification of his caste claim. 123.WP.7481.2026 3/3 8. In view of the above, we dispose of the present writ petition with liberty to the petitioner to approach the competent Sub-Divisional Officer for issuance of a caste certificate in Form-C. Upon issuance of such certificate, the petitioner shall forthwith submit the same online before the jurisdictional Caste Scrutiny Committee for verification of his caste claim. The Caste Scrutiny Committee shall thereafter consider and decide the petitioner’s caste claim within the period stipulated under the applicable statute. 9. The writ petition is accordingly disposed of. No costs. (RAJ D. WAKODE, J.) (URMILA JOSHI-PHALKE, J.) Vijaykumar Signed by: Mr. Vijay Kumar Designation: PA To Honourable Judge Date: 29/09/2026 12:33:28