6839.26wp (1) IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT BOMBAY BENCH AT AURANGABAD 944 WRIT PETITION NO. 6839 OF 2026 ASHOK TUKARAM FULEWAD VERSUS THE STATE OF MAHARASHTRA THROUGH ITS SECRETARY AND OTHERS ….. Mr G. K. Chinchole, Advocate h/f Mr A. C. Kanle, Advocate for Petitioner Ms J. P. Reddy, AGP for Respondents/State ….. CORAM : KISHORE C. SANT AND AJIT B. KADETHANKAR, JJ. DATE : 02nd JULY 2026 PER COURT :- 1. Heard learned Advocate for the petitioner and learned AGP for respondents. 2. Issue notice to the respondents, returnable forthwith. Learned AGP waives service of notice on behalf of all the respondents. 3. With consent of learned Advocate for petitioner and learned AGP, this matter is taken up for final disposal at the stage of admission. 4. The grievance of the petitioner in this petition is very limited. The tribe claim of the petitioner belonging to ‘Mannervarlu’ 2026:BHC-AUG:26145-DB 6839.26wp (2) Scheduled Tribe came to be invalidated by respondent No.2/Scheduled Tribe Caste Certificate Verification Committee, Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar vide its judgment dated 24/03/2026, on the ground that petitioner, in spite of several notices sent to him, remained absent for hearing before the Committee. 5. Learned Advocate for the petitioner submits that, only one notice dated 06/10/2025 for appearing before the Committee on 14/10/2025 is received by the petitioner. Earlier notices and the notices thereafter were not received by the petitioner. He further submits that a validity certificate has already been issued to the daughter of his brother, namely, Rajeshri Kachru Phulewad. Because he could not get notice, he could not produce validity certificate of tribe. He submits that petitioner undertakes to remain present before the Scrutiny Committee, if the matter is remanded. 6. Learned AGP vehemently opposes the petition. She submits that, on four occasions, notices were sent to the petitioner, however, he did not remain present and it is because of his absence, there was no alternative to the Committee, but to dismiss/reject his caste claim. The Committee has considered his matter on merits and invalidated his claim on that count. 6839.26wp (3) 7. Upon hearing the respective sides and perusing the record, the fact remains that the petitioner was not present before the Committee. Although his absence cannot be condoned, the petitioner was in service and after his retirement, is now receiving pension for the post of Assistant Sub Inspector instead of a Police Sub Inspector, because of non-submission of tribe validity certificate. 8. In view of above, we dispose of this petition by directing the petitioner to approach respondent No.2/Scrutiny Committee on 15/07/2026 at 11.00 a.m. The Committee shall give hearing to the petitioner on the same date and pass appropriate order thereafter, as early as possible. The order of this Court shall be followed scrupulously. Looking to the conduct of the petitioner, this petition is allowed with costs of Rs.10,000/- to be deposited by the petitioner with the High Court Legal Services Sub-Committee, Aurangabad within a period of one week from today. Receipt of depositing costs be shown to the Committee. It is open for the petitioner to approach the Committee with the documents upon which he wants to rely upon. [AJIT B. KADETHANKAR, J.] [KISHORE C. SANT, J.] sjk