1 WP6822-26.odt IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT BOMBAY NAGPUR BENCH, NAGPUR WRIT PETITION NO. 6822/2026 (RUSHIKESH HEMANT SHRIRAME VERSUS STATE COMMON ENTRANCE TEST CELL, MUMBAI & OTHERS) Office Notes, Office Memoranda of Coram, appearances, Court's orders of directions Court's or Judge's order and Registrar's orders. Shri Ananta Ramteke, counsel for the petitioner. Shri N.A. Gaikwad, counsel for the respondent no.1. Smt. S.S. Jachak, Assistant Government Pleader for the respondent no.3. CORAM : URMILA JOSHI-PHALKE AND RAJ D. WAKODE , JJ. D ATE : SEPTEMBER 03 , 2026 P. C. Heard the learned counsel for the petitioner. 2. The petitioner-Student has approached this Court seeking direction to the respondent no.3-Scheduled Tribe Certificate Scrutiny Committee, Nagpur (for short, ‘the respondent no.3-Committee’) for expeditious disposal of his caste claim. 3. The petitioner had submitted the caste claim towards ‘Mana’ Scheduled Tribe for verification to the respondent no.3-Committee on 24.04.2025. The acknowledgment to that effect is at Record Page No.14, Annexure-B. However, till date, the aforesaid caste claim is not decided by the respondent no.3-Committee. In the interregnum, the petitioner was admitted to the B.E. First Year course in Computer Science and Engineering in the respondent no.2-College. The aforesaid admission was in pursuance to the eligibility test conducted by the respondent no.1-State Common Entrance Test Cell, Mumbai. The receipt cum acknowledgment of admission of the petitioner is at Record Page No.21, Annexure-H. 2026:BHC-NAG:11670-DB 2 WP6822-26.odt 4. The aforesaid acknowledgment in the note at the bottom specifies that the petitioner shall produce the original validity certificate on or before the final reporting date of the 4h CAP round and failure to do so shall result in the automatic cancellation of his admission. Since the petitioner is belonging to the Scheduled Tribe category and his caste claim is pending, the petitioner is not in a position to produce such caste validity certificate. Therefore, the petitioner has approached this Court by way of present petition. 5. Smt.S.S. Jachak, learned Assistant Government Pleader who appears for the respondent no.3-Committee, upon instructions, submits that the respondent no.3-Committee shall decide the caste claim of the petitioner within a period of three weeks from the date of production of this order before the respondent no.3-Committee. 6. In view of above, the following order is passed:- I. The respondent no.3-Committee is hereby directed to decide the caste claim of the petitioner towards ‘Mana’ Scheduled Tribe within a stipulated period of three weeks from the date of production of this order before it. II. The respondent no.2 is directed not to insist upon the petitioner for production of the caste validity certificate till such decision by the respondent no.3-Committee. III. The admission of the petitioner shall be subject to the result of the caste validation proceedings and the petitioner shall not claim any equity on the basis of this order. IV. The petitioner shall co-operate with the respondent no.3- Committee for disposal of the caste validation proceedings and shall not seek any unnecessary adjournments. 3 WP6822-26.odt 7. The writ petition is disposed of in aforesaid terms with no order as to costs. (RAJ D. WAKODE, J.) (URMILA JOSHI-PHALKE, J.) APTE Signed by: Apte Designation: Senior Pvt. Secretary Date: 04/09/2026 10:36:30