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Judgment
R.S. Mohite, J.—Heard the learned Advocates for the parties.
Rule. By consent, Rule is made returnable forthwith.
This writ petition challenges an order dated 27-11-2001 passed by the Committee for Scrutiny and Verification of Tribe Claims, Amravati, by which the claim of the petitioner that he belongs to "Dhanwar" scheduled tribe, has been invalidated. The impugned order mentions that the candidate attended the hearing but did not submit his say on vigilance cell report. He asked for more time and committed to submit his explanation on or before 5-11-2001. However, the Scrutiny Committee did not receive any explanation from the candidate side and hence the Scrutiny Committee was left with no option but to decide his caste claim on the basis of submitted record and vigilance cell report.
One of the grievance in the petition is that the petitioner had in fact submitted his reply. The learned Advocate appearing for the Caste Scrutiny Committee makes a statement that in fact such a reply had been filed but it was inadvertently not considered.
In the circumstances, on this ground alone, the impugned order will be required to be set aside and the Caste Scrutiny Committee will pass a fresh order after considering the reply already given by the petitioner. While doing so, the Caste Scrutiny Committee will also consider the grounds raised in this petition and pass the order accordingly.
In the result, writ petition is allowed. Rule is made absolute in above terms. There will be no order as to costs.
The petitioner will appear before the Caste Scrutiny Committee on 29-1-2002 and file his additional say, if any, in the office of the Caste Scrutiny Committee on that day. A formal date of hearing will be given by the office of the Caste Scrutiny Committee to the petitioner on 29-1-2002. The petitioner shall not ask for any adjournment.
The Caste Scrutiny Committee will decide the matter as expeditiously as possible, in any case, before 31-7-2002.