Sanket Vishwanath Dandge v. The State Of Maharashtra Through Secretary And Another

2025:BHC-AUG:24296-DB :: 1 ::

IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE OF BOMBAY

BENCH AT AURANGABAD WRIT PETITION NO.11090 OF 2025 Sanket s/o Vishwanath Dandge ... PETITIONER

VERSUS

The State of Maharashtra & anr.

... RESPONDENTS .......

Mr. D.D. Choudhari, Advocate for petitioner Mrs. P.J. Bharad, A.G.P. for State .......

CORAM : R.G. AVACHAT AND ABASAHEB D. SHINDE, JJ.

DATE : 11th SEPTEMBER, 2025 O R D E R :

The petitioner has assailed the order dated 9/9/2025, passed by the respondent No.2 Caste Scrutiny Committee, thereby invalidating the claim of the petitioner of belonging to "Koli Malhar", Scheduled Tribe. Learned Advocate for the petitioner submits that, the second cousin brother of the petitioner namely Sandip Kaduba Dandge has been granted validity by this Court by an order dated

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10/3/2025 in Writ Petition No.14675/2021 and thus, urged to pass similar order.

2.

The learned A.G.P., on the other hand, has opposed the Writ Petition on the ground that there are serious manipulations in the school record so also the validity holders on which the petitioner relies upon, their cases have been reopened and, therefore, urged that the Writ Petition be dismissed.

3.

We have considered the rival submissions advanced by the learned Advocate for the petitioner as well as the learned A.G.P. We are of the considered view that, once the cousin brother of the petitioner has been granted validity by this Court while passing the order on 10/3/2025 in Writ Petition No.14675/2021, the petitioner also is entitled for the same relief. We thus pass the following order :

O R D E R

(i) The Writ Petition is allowed.

(ii) The impugned order dated 9/9/2025, passed by the respondent No.2 Caste Scrutiny Committee, thereby

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invalidating the claim of the petitioner of belonging to "Koli Malhar", Scheduled Tribe is quashed and set aside. (iii) The respondent No.2 Caste Scrutiny Committee is directed to issue validity certificate in favour of the petitioner of belonging to "Koli Malhar", Scheduled Tribe, subject to following conditions :- (a) The certificate to be issued to the petitioner shall be coterminus with the validity certificates on which the petitioner has relied before us.

(b) The petitioner shall not claim any equity.

(c) In the event the petitioner's case is reopened, the petitioner shall co-operate with the Scrutiny Committee for taking the matter to its logical end. (ABASAHEB D. SHINDE, J.) (R.G. AVACHAT, J.) FMPathan/-