1 WP8172-26.odt IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT BOMBAY NAGPUR BENCH, NAGPUR WRIT PETITION NO.8172/2026 (RUSHIKESH HEMANT SHRIRAME VERSUS THE VICE CHAIRMAN AND JOINT COMMISSIONER, SCHEDULED TRIBES CERTIFICATES SCRUTINY COMMITTEE, NAGPUR & ANOTHER) Office Notes, Office Memoranda of Coram, appearances, Court's orders of directions Court's or Judge's order and Registrar's orders. Shri V.R. Choudhari, counsel for the petitioner. Shri A.A. Madiwale, Assistant Government Pleader for the respondent no.1. CORAM : URMILA JOSHI-PHALKE AND RAJ D. WAKODE , JJ. D ATE : OCTOBER 08 , 2026 . P. C. Heard Shri V.R. Choudhari, learned counsel for the petitioner. 2. The petitioner seeks challenge to the impugned order dated 08.09.2026 passed by the respondent no.1-Scheduled Tribe Certificate Scrutiny Committee, Nagpur (for short, ‘the Committee’) invalidating the caste claim of the petitioner of belonging to ‘Mana’ Scheduled Tribe. The aforesaid order has been passed by the Committee on 08.09.2026 after the notification issued by the Government of Maharashtra appointing the Divisional Commissioner, Nagpur as an Appellate Authority as per the amended Section 6B 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 (Maharashtra Act No.XXIII of 2001). Hence, the petitioner has an alternate remedy of challenging the order impugned herein before the competent Appellate Authority by filing a statutory appeal under Section 6B of the aforesaid Act. 3. In view of above, the learned counsel for the petitioner seeks permission to withdraw the present writ petition with liberty to approach the competent Appellate Authority. 2026:BHC-NAG:13709-DB 2 WP8172-26.odt 4. The learned counsel for the petitioner submits that the petitioner is a student and is studying in the First Year of Bachelor of Engineering course in the respondent no.2-College and hence in view of such invalidation, the respondent no.2 can cancel the admission of the petitioner from the reserved category. 5. In view of above, the respondent no.2 is directed not to take any coercive steps against the petitioner for a period of fifteen days from today solely on the ground that the caste claim of the petitioner is invalidated. The petitioner is at liberty to file an appropriate application for grant of stay before the competent Appellate Authority in the appeal filed by the petitioner and the competent Appellate Authority is expected to decide the application for grant of stay on the first day of hearing. 6. The writ petition is disposed of as withdrawn with aforesaid directions. No costs. (RAJ D. WAKODE, J.) (URMILA JOSHI-PHALKE, J.) APTE Signed by: Apte Designation: Senior Pvt. Secretary Date: 13/10/2026 11:12:24