Lavnya Vijay Mhaskar Thr Her Father Vijay Laxman Mhaskar vs State of Maharashtra Thr Its Secretary and Ors. — Bombay HC (2026) — LawSathi Research

Lavnya Vijay Mhaskar Thr Her Father Vijay Laxman Mhaskar vs State of Maharashtra Thr Its Secretary and Ors. — Bombay HC (2026) — LawSathi Research

What the court decided

AI extract

Outcome

Impugned order of the Scrutiny Committee quashed and set aside; matter remitted for fresh consideration; Petitioner to appear before the Scrutiny Committee on 9th February 2026 at 11:00 a.m. and place additional materials; caste claim to be decided within six months from 9th February 2026; no observations on merits; all contentions kept open; Writ Petition disposed of.

Issue for consideration

Whether the invalidation by the Scrutiny Committee of the Petitioner's caste claim as belonging to 'Malhar Koli, Scheduled Tribe' should be interfered with, in view of the caste validity certificates granted to her blood relatives from the paternal side. +1 more

Court's answer

In the interest of justice, and in the light of the law laid down in Maharashtra Adiwasi Thakur Jamat Swarakshan Samiti and Apoorva d/o Vinay Nichale, the impugned order invalidating the caste claim was quashed and set aside and the matter remitted to the Scrutiny Committee for fresh consideration.

Ratio / Principle

The Petitioner is to be given an opportunity to establish her caste claim on the basis of the caste validity certificates issued in favour of her blood relatives from the paternal side, and to place the additional materials before the Scrutiny Committee.

Key takeaways

No observations were made on the merits; it is for the Petitioner to establish her relationship with the paternal-side relatives who were issued the validity certificates.ratio¶¶27
The Petitioner's caste claim for the grant of certificate of validity is to be decided by the Scrutiny Committee within six months from 9th February 2026.ratio¶¶27

Detailed headnote1 paragraphs

Caste claim — 'Malhar Koli, Scheduled Tribe' — invalidation by Scrutiny Committee challenged — Petitioner's paternal blood relatives (Manohar Ladaku Mhaskar and cousin uncle Adesh Mitharam Mhaskar) hold caste validity certificates which were not available at the time of scrutiny and came to her knowledge subsequently — in the light of Maharashtra Adiwasi Thakur Jamat Swarakshan Samiti v. State of Maharashtra, (2023) 16 SCC 415 and Apoorva d/o Vinay Nichale v. Divisional Caste Certificate Scrutiny Committee No.1, 2010(6) Mh.L.J. 401, impugned order quashed and set aside and matter remitted to the Scrutiny Committee for fresh consideration — Petitioner to appear on 9th February 2026 with additional materials and to establish relationship with the relatives holding validity certificates — no observations on merits — claim to be decided within six months — all contentions kept open — Writ Petition disposed of (S. M. Modak, J.).

2026:BHC-AS:5633-DB

Bhogale 14.wp-19325-2024.odt

IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT BOMBAY CIVIL APPELLATE JURISDICTION

WRIT PETITION NO.19325 OF 2024

Lavnya Vijay Mhaskar … Petitioner Versus State of Maharashtra and Ors. … Respondents

Adv. Balwant Salunkhe, for the Petitioner. Mr. N. C. Walimbe, Addl.G.P. a/w Smt. D. S. Deshmukh, AGP, for the Respondents-State.

CORAM : M. S. KARNIK & S. M. MODAK, JJ.

DATE : 2^nd FEBRUARY, 2026

P.C. :

Heard learned counsel for the parties.

The challenge in this Petition is to the invalidation of the

caste claim of the Petitioner as belonging to the ‘Malhar Koli, Scheduled Tribe’. Learned counsel for the Petitioner invited our attention to the grounds raised in the Writ Petition. One of the

ground on which the Petitioner claims to be of ‘Malhar Koli,

Scheduled Tribe’ is that her blood relatives from the paternal side

viz. Manohar Ladaku Mhaskar and cousin uncle viz. Adesh Mitharam Mhaskar have been granted the caste validity certificates

which support the claim of the Petitioner. It is stated in the Petition

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that at the time of scrutiny of the Petitioner’s claim, these documents were not available with the Petitioner which he came to his knowledge subsequently.

Learned AGP argued in support of the impugned order. It is submitted that the materials relied upon by the Petitioner do not support the caste claim of the Petitioner and therefore there is no reason to interfere with the order passed by the Scrutiny Committee. It is further the submission that, if it is the case that Petitioner’s relatives from the paternal side are issued certificates of validity, this contention be rejected as their names do not find place in the genealogy tree as submitted before the Scrutiny Committee and moreover the relationship has not been established.

The Petitioner relied upon the certificates of validity of her close blood relatives from the paternal side. In the interest of justice and with a view to give an opportunity to the Petitioner to establish her caste claim on the basis of the claim that caste validity certificates issued in favour of her blood relatives from the paternal side in the light of law laid down in Maharashtra Adiwasi Thakur Jamat Swarakshan Samiti vs. State of Maharashtra and

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Others¹ and Apoorva d/o Vinay Nichale vs. Divisional Caste Certificate Scrutiny Committee No.1 and others² , we inclined to quash and set aside the impugned order and remit the matter for consideration of the Scrutiny Committee afresh.

The impugned order is quashed and set aside. The Petitioner to appear before the Scrutiny Committee on 9^th February 2026 at 11:00 a.m. The Petitioner to place the additional materials for consideration of the Scrutiny Committee. It is made clear that we have not made any observations on merits. It is for the Petitioner to establish the relationship with the relatives from the paternal side who are issued the validity certificates. The caste claim of the Petitioner for the grant of certificate of validity be decided within a period of six months from 9^th February 2026.

All contentions are kept open.

The Writ Petition is disposed of.

(S. M. MODAK, J.)

1 (2023) 16 SCC 415

2 2010(6) Mh.L.J. 401

Signed by: Pradnya Bhogale Designation: PA To Honourable Judge Date: 04/02/2026 10:31:48

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