JUDGMENT

S.B. Sinha, J.—Leave granted.

2. This appeal is directed against a judgment and order dated 19.08.2005 passed by a Division Bench of the High Court of Judicature of Bombay in Writ Petition No. 4158 of 2005 whereby and whereunder the writ petition filed by the respondent herein was allowed.

3. Respondent was appointed in the services of the Government of Maharashtra on 29.06.1995. Respondent claimed to be belonging to Halba community, a scheduled tribe. The caste certificate procured by the respondent from the competent officer having been doubted, the matter was referred to the Caste Certificate Scrutiny Committee, Nagpur on 27.08.1999 for verification. The respondent was found to be belonging to ‘Koshti’ caste which comes within the category of ‘special backward class’ and not within the scheduled tribe category.

4. The question as to whether ‘Koshti- Halbas’ are members of the Scheduled Tribe or not came up for consideration before this Court in State of Maharashtra v. Milind and Others [(2001) 1 SCC 4], wherein it was held that they were not.

5. In view of the finding of fact that the respondent herein was not a member of the scheduled tribe but was a ‘Koshti’, his caste