(1) 1.WP.8027.2026 IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT BOMBAY NAGPUR BENCH : NAGPUR WRIT PETITION NO.8027 OF 2026 Suryakant Ramkrishna Panchagam Vs. The State of Maharashtra, through its Principal Secretary, Tribal Development Department, Mantralaya, Mumbai and Ors. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Office Notes, Office Memoranda of Coram, Court's or Judge's orders appearances, Court's orders of directions and Registrar's orders -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Mr. A. I. Sheikh, Advocate for petitioner. Ms. H. N. Jaipurkar, AGP for State. Mr. Nikhil Gaikwad, Advocate for respondent No.4. CORAM : URMILA JOSHI-PHALKE AND RAJ D. WAKODE, JJ. DATED : 05/10/2026 1. By this petition, the petitioner has made a very limited payer i.e. direction to the respondent No.2 – The Scheduled Tribe Certificate Scrutiny Committee, Amravati Division, Amravati to decide the proposal of tribe claim of the petitioner dated 01.07.2026 within a stipulated period. Learned counsel for the petitioner not pressed the prayer clause (b) and (c) in the prayer clauses. 2. As per the contention of the petitioner, he belongs to the “Mannewar” Scheduled Tribe which is recognized as Scheduled Tribe (ST) at Serial No.18 under the Constitution (Scheduled Tribes) Order, 1950. The respondent No.1 is a Principal Secretary, Tribal Development Department of the State of Maharashtra. The respondent No.2 is the Scrutiny Committee constituted as per the Maharashtra Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, De-notified Tribes (Vimukta Jatis), 2026:BHC-NAG:13278-DB (2) 1.WP.8027.2026 Nomadic Tribes, Other Backward Classes and Special Backward Category (Regulation of Issuance and Verification of) Caste Certificate Act, 2000. 3. The petitioner has appeared in LL.B. 3 years course and has been allotted a seat in respondent No.3 - college under the Scheduled Tribe category. On 01.07.2026 proposal along with the supporting documents was submitted to the Caste Scrutiny Committee. As the Caste Scrutiny Committee has not decided the caste claim of the present petitioner, therefore, the admission of the present petitioner is cancelled. He submitted that due to the inaction on the part of the respondent No.2, the petitioner has lost his admission and seeks direction. 4. On instructions, learned AGP submitted that the caste claim of the petitioner can be decided within three months. 5. Though learned counsel for the petitioner not presses the prayer clauses (b) and (c), we have also sought instructions from the learned counsel Mr. Nikhil Gaikwad for respondent No.4, he submitted that now on account of non- production of the Caste Validity Certificate, the admission is already cancelled and, therefore, it cannot be restored. On these instructions, learned counsel for the petitioner has already not pressed the prayer clauses (b) and (c). 6. In view of that, we direct the respondent No.2 to decide the caste claim of the present petitioner within three months. 7. The Caste Scrutiny Committee shall decide the caste claim of the present petitioner considering that there are (3) 1.WP.8027.2026 already caste validity certificates granted in the family of the petitioner. 8. Accordingly, the petition is disposed of. (RAJ D. WAKODE, J) (URMILA JOSHI-PHALKE, J) Sarkate Signed by: Mr. A.R. Sarkate Designation: PA To Honourable Judge Date: 06/10/2026 17:26:00