1 12 wp6978.26.odt IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT BOMBAY NAGPUR BENCH : NAGPUR WRIT PETITION NO.6978 OF 2026 Devansh Anil Nannaware Vs. The Joint Commissioner cum Vice Chairman, The Scheduled Tribe Certificate Scrutiny Committee, Chandrapur and ors Office Notes, Office Memoranda of Court' s or Judge' s Order Coram, appearances, Court' s Orders or directions and Registrar' s order Shri N.D.Jambhule, Counsel for the Petitioner. Shri Amit Madiwale, AGP for Respondent No.1 & 2. Shri Arnav Naik, Advocate h/f Shri Nikhil Gaikwad, Counsel for Respondent No.3. CORAM : URMILA JOSHI-PHALKE & RAJ D.WAKODE, JJ. DATED : 04 SEPTEMBER, 2026. 1. Heard. 2. By this petition, the petitioner seeks a limited prayer that respondent No.1/Caste Scrutiny Committee, Chandrapur be directed to decide caste claim of the petitioner towards “Mana Scheduled Tribe” and to issue Caste Validity Certificate within a stipulated period. The petitioner is also seeking direction to respondent No.2/College and respondent No.3/State Common Entrance Test Cell, Maharashtra State, Mumbai not to insist for Caste 2026:BHC-NAG:11735-DB 2 12 wp6978.26.odt Validity Certificate and not to cancel provisional admission based on non-submission of Caste Validity Certificate. 3. Learned Assistant Government Pleader waives service of Notice for respondent Nos.1 and 2. 4. Learned counsel Shri Arnav Naik h/f learned counsel Shri Nikhil Gaikwad waives service of Notice for respondent No.3. 5. Learned counsel for the petitioner submits that the petitioner has appeared in MH-CET Examination and already qualified. The petitioner has secured seat in “First Year Under Graduate Technical Course “Computer Science” and Engineering (Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning) in Engineering and Technology (4 years) 2026-2027”. Now, the petitioner has already admitted on a condition that the petitioner has to produce Caste Validity Certificate. However, the caste claim of the petitioner is pending with the said Committee since June 2026. Now, respondent No.2/College is insisting for Caste Validity Certificate. If the Caste Validity Certificate is not produced, there is an apprehension of cancellation of the admission. 6. Learned Assistant Government Pleader and learned counsel for respondent No.3 have strongly opposed the said contentions and submitted that considering it is being a pre- condition, Caste Validity Certificate is required to be produced. 3 12 wp6978.26.odt 7. After hearing both sides and perusing the entire record, it reveals that the caste claim of the petitioner is still pending with the said Committee. The petitioner is already admitted on condition of production of Caste Validity Certificate. Considering apprehension of cancellation of the admission, he needs to be protected. Now, this aspect is already considered by the Government Circular granting extension to produce Caste Validity Certificates to the SBC and OBC Categories. Therefore, the said benefit can be extended to the other social status categories also. 8. In view of that, we pass following order: ORDER (1) The writ petition is disposed of. (2) The respondent No.1/Caste Scrutiny Committee, Chandrapur is directed to decide the caste claim of the petitioner within a period of four months. (3) It is directed that respondent No.2/College and respondent No.3/State Common Entrance Test Cell shall not insist the petitioner for Caste Validity Certificate and shall not cancel the provisional admission based on the non submission of the Caste Validity Certificate. (4) The admission of the petitioner would be subject to final outcome of the caste claim decided by the said Committee. 4 12 wp6978.26.odt (5) With these directions, the writ petition is disposed of. No costs. [JUDGE] [JUDGE] !! BrWankhede, PS !! Signed by: Mr. B. R. Wankhede Designation: PS To Honourable Judge Date: 05/09/2026 10:52:43