Anant Bhalchandra Gaikwad v. The State Of Maharashtra Through Its Principal Secretary And Others

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IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT BOMBAY

BENCH AT AURANGABAD 920 WRIT PETITION NO.5185 OF 2023 ANANT BHALCHANDRA GAIKWAD

VERSUS

THE STATE OF MAHARASHTRA THROUGH ITS PRINCIPAL SECRETARY AND OTHERS ...

Advocate for Petitioners : Mr. Chandrakant R. Thorat AGP for Respondents: Mr. S.P. Tiwari .....

CORAM : RAVINDRA V. GHUGE AND SANJAY A. DESHMUKH, JJ.

DATED : 3rd MAY, 2023.

PER COURT :- 1.

This is yet another example of the Caste Scrutiny Committee showing scant respect to the order of this court and having kept the proceeding of the Petitioner pending for 11 years, practically refusing to obey our orders.

2.

We have considered the submissions of the learned advocate for the Petitioner and the learned A.G.P. who appears on behalf of all the Respondents. The Petitioner's proposal for seeking validation of his Thakar S.T. category claim is pending since 18.01.2012. On 07.01.2021, this Court (Coram: S.V. Gangapurwala and Shrikant D. Kulkarni, JJ.) passed an order in Writ Petition No. 8476 of 2020 observing that "Eight years is too long a period for keeping the matter pending" and, therefore, granted only six months time to decide the proceeding. The Petitioner has tendered his

-2written submissions in response to the notice pursuant to the completion of the Vigilance Cell enquiry, on 30.03.2022. Yet, the matter is kept pending for 13 months despite the order of this Court, dated 07.01.2021.

3.

In this matter, we are unable to show leniency to the Members of the committee, who were bound to decide the claim of the Petitioner pursuant to the directions of this Court, dated 07.01.2021. The concerned Committee Members, since 07.01.2021, are as under:- Senior Research Officer Sr. No.

Name of the Officer Period From To Smt. P.A. Shelke 28.06.2021 17.08.2022 Smt. C.D. More 20.07.2021 Till today Deputy Directors Sr. No.

Name of the Officer Period From To Shri Vijaykumar M. Katke 14.01.2021 17.08.2022 Smt. C.D. More 20.01.2023 11.04.2023 Additional charge Shri Sachin Jadhav 22.04.2023 Till today (creation of new post.) Assistant Commissioners Sr. No.

Name of the Officer Period From To Shri Dinkar Pawra 27.07.2021 04.04.2022 Smt. Sangeeta Chavan 21.04.2022 Till today

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In view of the above, this Petition is disposed off, with the following directions:- a) Except Shri Sachin Jadhav, who has joined only 11 days prior to this order, each of the Committee Members shall deposit an amount of Rs.5,000/- (Rupees Five thousand only) from their salary account in this Court, within 45 days from this order. b) As the hearing in the pending case is scheduled on 12.05.2023, the Committee shall deliver it's order on or before 31.07.2023.

c) Respondent Nos. 2, 3 and 4 shall not dispense with the service of the Petitioner until 31.07.2023 or till the date on which the committee decides the claim of the Petitioner, whichever is earlier.

d) In case the committee passes an adverse order against the Petitioner, the same would not take effect for a period of 15 days to enable the Petitioner to avail the remedy, as is permissible in law.

(SANJAY A. DESHMUKH, J.) (RAVINDRA V. GHUGE , J.) rlj/