116 WP-8686-2026.odt 1 IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT BOMBAY NAGPUR BENCH, NAGPUR. WRIT PETITION NO.8686 OF 2026 [Devansh S/o Vinod Pawar .vs. Schedule Tribe Caste Certificate Scrutiny Committee, Amravati and another] --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Office Notes, Office Memoranda Court's or Judge's orders of Coram, Appearances, Court's orders or directions and Registrar's orders. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Shri. A. P. Kalmegh, Advocate for Petitioner. Shri. V. A. Thakare, AGP for Respondents/State. CORAM : URMILA JOSHI-PHALKE AND RAJ D. WAKODE, JJ. DATED : 15 th OCTOBER, 2026. 1. Heard Shri. A. P. Kalmegh, learned counsel for petitioner. 2. The contention is that the application submitted by the petitioner for grant of caste certificate towards “Thakur Scheduled Tribe” was rejected by respondent No.2 - Sub-Divisional Officer, Daryapur, District Amravati, vide order dated 14th July, 2025, which is at record page No.29 (Annexure-B). Being aggrieved by such rejection, the petitioner approached respondent No.1 - Scheduled Tribe Caste Certificate Scrutiny Committee, Amravati by filing statutory appeal under Section 5 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 (hereinafter referred to as, “the aforesaid Act” for the sake of brevity). A copy of the aforesaid appeal is at record page No.33 (Annexure-C). 2026:BHC-NAG:13921-DB 116 WP-8686-2026.odt 2 3. Shri. Kalmegh, learned counsel, submits that it is more than 14 months now that the aforesaid appeal is pending before respondent No.1 and is not yet decided. Hence, the petitioner has approached this Court. 4. Shri. Vinod Thakare, learned Assistant Government Pleader, who appears on behalf of all the respondents, submits that the aforesaid appeal shall be decided by respondent No.1 - Committee within a period of four weeks from today. 5. In view of the above, the grievance of the petitioner stands redressed. Accordingly, the present writ petition is disposed of in terms of the following order: O R D E R i) Respondent No.1 shall decide the statutory appeal under Section 5 of the aforesaid Act, filed by the petitioner on 12th August, 2025, within a period of four weeks from today. ii) The petitioner shall cooperate with respondent No.1 in deciding the aforesaid appeal and shall not seek any adjournment. iii) The decision taken thereupon shall be communicated to the petitioner within a period of two weeks from the date of such decision. (RAJ D. WAKODE, J.) (URMILA JOSHI-PHALKE, J.) TAMBE Signed by: Mr. Ashish Tambe Designation: PA To Honourable Judge Date: 16/10/2026 11:18:27