Vaibhav Vasant Telavane vs State of Maharashtra and Ors. — Bombay HC (2026) — LawSathi Research

Vaibhav Vasant Telavane vs State of Maharashtra and Ors. — Bombay HC (2026) — LawSathi Research

What the court decided

AI extract

Outcome

Impugned order dated 02.09.2024 of Respondent No. 2-Committee quashed and set aside; Petitioner to remain present before the Scrutiny Committee on 16.02.2026 at 11.00 a.m.; caste claim for validity certificate to be decided afresh, uninfluenced by the observations in the impugned order, within six months from 16.02.2026; pending interim applications stand disposed of; all contentions kept open.

Issue for consideration

Whether the impugned order passed by the Scrutiny Committee calls for interference on the ground that no personal hearing was afforded to the Petitioner before the order was passed.

Court's answer

The contention that no opportunity of hearing was given to the Petitioner before the order came to be passed has not been controverted in the affidavit-in-reply filed by the Respondents.

Ratio / Principle

The impugned order dated 02.09.2024 passed by Respondent No. 2-Committee is quashed and set aside.

Key takeaways

The Petitioner is to remain present before the Scrutiny Committee on 16.02.2026 at 11.00 a.m.ratio¶5
The Committee is to decide the claim of the Petitioner afresh on the basis of materials and in accordance with law.ratio¶6
The Committee shall decide the claim without being influenced by the observations made in the impugned order.ratio

Detailed headnote1 paragraphs

Bombay High Court (Civil Appellate Jurisdiction), Civil Writ Petition No. 13168 of 2024 (Karnik and Modak, JJ.), decided 02 February 2026 — Caste certificate validation (Wani, OBC). The Court proceeded on the Petitioner's contention, uncontroverted in the Respondents' affidavit-in-reply, that no personal hearing/opportunity of hearing was afforded to him before the Scrutiny Committee passed its order dated 02.09.2024, by which the Committee — despite recording findings that the Petitioner had established his caste as Wani (OBC) — declined validation on the ground that the certificate was issued without following the proper procedure. The impugned order was quashed and set aside. The Petitioner was directed to remain present before the Scrutiny Committee on 16.02.2026 at 11.00 a.m., and the Committee was directed to decide the caste claim afresh on the basis of materials and in accordance with law, without being influenced by the observations in the impugned order, within six months from 16.02.2026. Pending interim applications were disposed of and all contentions of the parties were kept open.

WP 13168 of 2024.doc

IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT BOMBAY CIVIL APPELLATE JURISDICTION

CIVIL WRIT PETITION NO. 13168 OF 2024

Vaibhav Vasant Telavane ...Petitioner

Vs.

The State of Maharashtra and Ors. ...Respondents

Adv. R. K. Mendadkar a/w Adv. Jagadish C. Kawale - Advocate for the Petitioner

Adv. Vaishali Choudhari - for the Respondent No. 3-UOI Shri N. C. Walimbe – Addl. GP a/w Smt. V. S. Nimbalkar – AGP for Respondent-State

Ms. Gunjan Choudhary – Caste Scrutiny Raigad (Law officer)

CORAM : M. S. KARNIK AND S. M. MODAK, JJ. DATE : 02^nd FEBRUARY 2026

P. C. :-

Heard learned counsel for the Petitioner.

It is the submission of the learned counsel for the Petitioner that the

impugned order passed by the Scrutiny Committee calls for interference, as a personal hearing was not afforded to the Petitioner before the order was passed. The submission is that Scrutiny Committee has recorded the findings that the Petitioner has been able to establish his caste as Wani, which falls under OBC category, but the Caste certificate cannot be validated as the Caste certificate in respect of which validation is sought was

Digitally signed by SEEMA SEEMA KSHITIJ KSHITIJ YELKAR YELKAR Date: 2026.02.06 11:17:11 +0530

1/2

Seema

WP 13168 of 2024.doc

issued without following the proper procedure.

The contention raised in the petition is that no opportunity of hearing was given to the Petitioner before the order came to be passed. This has not been controverted in the affidavit-in-reply filed by the Respondents.

On this background, the impugned order dated 02.09.2024 passed by Respondent No. 2-Committee is quashed and set aside.

The Petitioner to remain present before the Scrutiny Committee on 16.02.2026 at 11.00 a.m..

The Committee to decide the claim of the Petitioner afresh on the basis of materials and in accordance with law.

The Committee shall decide the claim without being influenced by the observations made in the impugned order.

The Caste claim for grant of the validity certificate be decided within a period of six months from 16.02.2026.

With the above observations, the Writ Petition is disposed of.

Pending Interim Application, if any, also stands disposed of.

All contentions of either of the parties are kept open.

(S. M. MODAK, J.)

(M. S. KARNIK, J.)

2/2

Seema