908-WP-11963-26.doc Sharayu Khot. IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT BOMBAY CIVIL APPELLATE JURISDICTION WRIT PETITION NO. 11963 OF 2026 Varad s/o Sanjaykumar Kantewar …Petitioner Versus The State of Maharashtra & Ors. …Respondents ---------- Mr. Chandrakant R. Thorat a/w Mr. O.D. Totawad, Mr. Yashraj Joshi and Mr. Satyam Kumar for the Petitioner. Mr. B.V. Samant, Add.G.P. a/w Mr. V.M. Mali, AGP for the Respondent- State. Mr. Nikhil Chavan, for the Respondent No. 2-CET Cell. ---------- CORAM : R.I. CHAGLA J FIRDOSH P. POONIWALLA, J DATE : 8 September 2026 ORDER : 1. The learned Counsel for the Petitioner has sought leave to amend the Petition by deleting Respondent No. 3 - Scheduled Tribe Certificate Verification Committee, Kinwat-1, Headquarter Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar, as well as prayer clause ‘C’ to the Petition. 1/5 SHARAYU PANDURANG KHOT Digitally signed by SHARAYU PANDURANG KHOT Date: 2026.09.09 10:56:41 +0530 908-WP-11963-26.doc 2. Accordingly, leave is granted. 3. The Petitioner shall carry out the amendment to the Petition in the course of today. Re-verification is dispensed with. 4. Rule. Rule made returnable forthwith. Heard by consent of the parties. 5. This Petition has been filed on the grounds of urgency in view of the Petitioner, as per the schedule of Respondent No. 2 - State CET Cell, requiring to submit the Scheduled Tribe Validity Certificate on or before 7th September 2026. Although this date has expired, the Respondent No. 2 - State CET Cell has till date not cancelled the allotment to the Petitioner in Respondent No. 4 - College of Engineering Pune. 6. The Tribe Validity claim of the Petitioner has not yet been decided by the Scheduled Tribes Certificate Verification Committee. By an order dated 28th July 2026 passed by this Court (Aurangabad Bench) in Writ Petition No. 8342 of 2026 filed by the present Petitioner, this Court has granted the Scrutiny Committee a period of 2/5 908-WP-11963-26.doc six months to decide the Tribe Validity claim of the Petitioner. This was upon taking into consideration that the Tribe Certificate was obtained by the Petitioner on 21st July 2025, and it took him at least ten months to lodge the claim with the Committee. 7. This Court in Writ Petition No. 11628 of 2026, by an order dated 3rd September 2026, considered the Government Resolution dated 2nd July 2026, which had granted a period of six months from the date of admission to the candidates belonging to reserved categories, viz. SEBC and OBC, for submitting Caste Certificates and Caste Validity Certificates. 8. This Court relying upon a decision of this Court (Nagpur Bench) in Aditi D/o Ramsing Jadhao Vs. The Vice-Chairman/Member Secretary, Scheduled Tribe Caste Certificate Scrutiny Committee, Yavatmal & Anr.1, had not found any reason as to why the benefit of six months should not be granted to other categories such as Scheduled Tribes, Scheduled Castes, De-notified Tribes (Vimukta Jatis), and Nomadic Tribes. 1 Writ Petition No. 6545 of 2026 order dated 24th August 2026 3/5 908-WP-11963-26.doc 9. This Court had accordingly, considered it appropriate, in these circumstances and in the interest of the students, to direct the Respondent-State to take a decision on making the said Government Resolution dated 2nd July 2026 applicable to the aforesaid categories. Thereafter, the Respondent-State issued a Government Resolution dated 4th September 2026 granting benefit to the aforesaid categories other than Scheduled Tribes and revising the time period from six months to three months for submission of the Caste Validity Certificate to the Institutions. 10. Considering that the Petitioner claims to belong to the Scheduled Tribe and the aforesaid Government Resolutions have not been made applicable to Scheduled Tribes, we direct the Respondent- State to take a decision on making these Government Resolutions applicable to Scheduled Tribes as well. 11. The Aurangabad Bench of this Court, vide order dated 28th July 2026, granted six months to the Scrutiny Committee to decide the Tribe claim of the Petitioner, in view of which the Petitioner has not been able to submit the Tribe Validity Certificate as per the requisites of the Respondent No. 2 - State CET Cell. 4/5 908-WP-11963-26.doc 12. Accordingly, we direct the State CET Cell to consider the admission of the present Petitioner from the Scheduled Tribe category to the Bachelor of Planning course in the Respondent No. 4 - College and grant provisional admission without insisting upon submission of the Tribe Validity Certificate. This provisional admission shall be subject to the final outcome of the Tribe Validity claim of the Petitioner before the Scrutiny Committee. 13. The Writ Petition is disposed of in these terms. No order as to costs. [FIRDOSH P. POONIWALLA, J.] [R.I. CHAGLA J.] 5/5