DEORAO GANPATRAO UMREDKAR Vs. STATE OF MAHARASHTRA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Record and proceedings of Respondent No.4 -Scrutiny Committee was called and petitioner has inspected the same. Parties have nothing to add. Hence this Petition along with other petitions are taken up for final hearing. Hence Rule. Rule is made returnable forthwith in all petitions and is heard by consent.

(2.) The petitioner, who is resident of Nagpur, contested the election to the Office of the Councilor of Municipal Corporation of Nagpur city from a constituency reserved for Scheduled Tribes and has been elected.

(3.) The petitioner claimed that he belongs to "Halba" included in the list of Scheduled Tribes, as modified by Notification No. SRO - 510 dated 6th September 1950 published in Gazette of India, Extraordinary 1950, Part II. As per Section 9AA of the City of Nagpur Municipal Corporation Act, the petitioner was under an obligation to get his caste claim verified within three months from the date of election, else the seat was to fall vacant. The petitioner had applied for verification of his tribe claim to the Respondent No.4- Committee, under the provisions of the Maharashtra Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, De-notified Tribes (Vimukta Jatis), Nomadic Tribes, Other Backward Classes and Special Backward Category (Regulation of Issuance and Verification of ) Caste Certificate Act, 2000 (for short "the Act of 2000") and Rules made thereunder, namely, Maharashtra Scheduled Tribes (Regulation of Issuance and Verification of) Certificate Rules, 2003 (in short, "the Rules of 2003").