14 WP-7080-2026 1 IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT BOMBAY NAGPUR BENCH, NAGPUR. WRIT PETITION NO.7080 OF 2026 [Saloni d/o Umesh Barekar ..vs.. Scheduled Tribe Certificate Scrutiny Committee, Gondia and others] ______________________________________________________________________________ Office Notes, Office Memoranda of Coram, appearances, Court's orders of directions Court's or Judge's order and Registrar's orders. Shri. Prashant P. Dhok, Advocate for Petitioner. Shri. Amit Madiwale, AGP for Respondent Nos.1, 2 and 7. CORAM : URMILA JOSHI-PHALKE AND RAJ D. WAKODE, JJ. DATE : 7 th SEPTEMBER , 2026 . . Shri. Amit Madiwale, learned Asst. G. P., waives service of notice on behalf of respondent Nos.1, 2 and 7 and Shri. Nikhil Gaikwad, learned counsel, waives service of notice on behalf of respondent Nos.3 and 4. 2. The petitioner in the present petition has made a very limited prayer seeking a direction to respondent No.1 - Scheduled Tribe Certificate Scrutiny Committee, Gondia, for expeditious disposal of her caste claim. 3. Heard learned counsel for the petitioner, who submitted that the petitioner claims to belong to the “Mana” Scheduled Tribe. Her caste claim was forwarded to respondent No.1 - Committee on 16.12.2025 and has remained pending since then. Now, the petitioner is admitted to respondent No.5 - Yashwantrao Chavan College of Engineering, Wanadongri, Nagpur, for an engineering course. However, as a pre-condition for admission, she is required to produce a validity certificate. Due to the pendency of her caste claim, the petitioner is unable to produce the validity certificate and therefore, seeks directions against respondent Nos.3 to 5 as well. 2026:BHC-NAG:11839-DB 14 WP-7080-2026 2 4. Heard learned Assistant Government Pleader for respondent Nos.1, 2 and 7 as well as learned counsel for respondent Nos.3 and 4, who submitted that, as production of the validity certificate is a pre- condition for admission, the prayer made by the petitioner deserves to be rejected. 5. We have considered the fact that the caste claim of the present petitioner is pending since 16.12.2025. The petitioner has now been admitted to an engineering course and there is an apprehension that she may lose her admission for want of a validity certificate. Now, the State Government has already issued a notification extending the period of three months for production of the validity certificate; however, Scheduled Tribes have been excluded from the benefit thereof. 6. We are of the considered opinion that this aspect can be extended to the Scheduled Tribes also. We are, therefore, of the opinion that the prayer made by the petitioner deserves to be allowed. Accordingly, we proceed to pass the following order: O R D E R i) The present writ petition is allowed. ii) Respondent No.1 - Scheduled Tribe Certificate Scrutiny Committee, Gondia, shall decide the caste claim of the petitioner within a period of six months from the date of receipt of a copy of this order. iii) Till the decision of the Committee, respondent Nos.3 to 5 shall not take any step to cancel the admission of the petitioner solely on the ground of non-production of the validity certificate. 14 WP-7080-2026 3 iv) The admission of the petitioner shall be subject to the outcome of the caste claim pending before respondent No.1 - Committee, if she is otherwise eligible. The petitioner shall not claim any equity on that ground. 7. The present writ petition is, accordingly, disposed of. (RAJ D. WAKODE, J.) (URMILA JOSHI-PHALKE, J.) TAMBE Signed by: Mr. Ashish Tambe Designation: PA To Honourable Judge Date: 07/09/2026 20:23:39