SANTOSH BABURAO MASKE vs STATE OF MAHARASHTRA AND ORS.

Judgment text excerpt

LSP 1 905 wp 5094.08.doc IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT BOMBAY CIVIL APPELLATE JURISDICTION Writ Petition No. 5094 of 2008 Santosh Baburao Maske … Petitioner V/s. 1. State of Maharashtra 2. Scheduled Tribe Caste Certificate Scrutiny Committee, 3. Deputy Collector, Sindhudurg. 3. Collector, Sindhudurg. … Respondents. Mr. R.K.Mendadkar a/w. Priyanka Shaw, Jayshree Mendadkar, Siddhant Sawai, Jagdish Kawale, Prajakta Pashtre Advocate for the Petitioner. Mrs. Kavita N. Solunke, Addl. G.P. a/w. Mr. A.K.Naik, AGP for the Respondents-State. Mr. Dipak T. Shigham, Law Officer present. CORAM : M.S. KARNIK & S.M. MODAK, JJ. DATE : 14th January 2026. Oral Judgment (Per M.S. Karnik, J) : Digitally signed by LATA LATA SUNIL SUNIL PANJWANI PANJWANI Date: 2026.01.21 12:13:01 The challenge in this petition is to the order dated 25 th April +0530 2008 passed by Respondent No.2 - Committee invalidating the caste claim of the Petitioner as belonging to Thakar Scheduled Tribe. LSP 2 905 wp 5094.08.doc 2. Brief background of the matter is as follows: The rejection of the caste claim of the Petitioner by the Caste Scrutiny Committee was challenged by the Petitioner by filing a Writ Petition before this Court, which came to be dismissed. Aggrieved by the said order, the Petitioner preferred an Appeal before the Hon’ble Supreme Court. Vide order dated 12th December 2025, the Hon’ble Supreme Court partly allowed the Appeal, set aside the order passed by this Court, and remanded the matter for fresh consideration. The relevant paragraphs from the order dated 12th December 2025 are reproduced hereinbelow for ready reference. “1. The applications for substitution are allowed after condoning the delay and setting aside abatement, if any, subject to all just exceptions. Applications for interventi