JUDGMENT - DESHPANDE A.P., J.:---Rule. Rule made returnable forthwith by consent of parties.

2. Heard Shri N.C. Phadnis, learned Counsel for the petitioner and Shri R.K. Deshpande, learned Counsel for the respondents.

3. The petitioner is in the employment of Maharashtra State Electricity Board. The petitioner joined as a Junior Engineer with MSEB on 10-2-1986, as a candidate belonging to Scheduled Tribe category. The petitioner had sought the said appointment on the basis of a caste certificate issued by the Executive Magistrate, which was validated by the appellate authority viz. Divisional Commissioner, Nagpur Division, Nagpur in Appeal No. 26 of 1982, vide order dated 31st May, 1982. It is not in dispute that when the petitioners caste certificate was referred for verification and scrutiny to the Director of Social Welfare, Maharashtra State, Pune, the same was rejected by the said authority which is corresponding to the Caste Scrutiny Committee. Then, in the year 1981-82, an order in regard to verification of caste claim passed by the Director of Social Welfare, Pune was subject to an appellate remedy before the Divisional Commissioner. In the present case, as stated hereinabove, though the first authority rejected the caste claim made by the petitioner, the same was granted by the Appellate Authority.

4. The petitioner continued to be in employment of MSEB and has derived all the benefits in regard to reservation which are made available to Scheduled Tribe category candidate. By passage of time, the petitioner came to be promoted from the post of Junior Engineer to that of Assistant Engineer and, thereafter, to the post of Deputy Executive Engineer. Lastly, the petitioner, being desirous of competing in the process of selection for appointment of Executive Engineer from Scheduled Tribe category, submitted the validated caste certificate and claimed that he be considered as a candidate from Scheduled Tribe category. MSEB refused the request made by the petitioner and insisted upon a fresh caste certificate, so also fresh caste validity certificate to be issued at the hands of the Caste Scrutiny Committee under the new Act viz. The Maharashtra Scheduled Caste, 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 (Maharashtra Act No. XXIII of 2001).

5. It is also not in dispute that though the petitioner was selected for being appointed in the post of Executive Engineer, he has not been issued an appointment order but on the contrary, a communication which is challenged in the present writ petition, came to be issued by the Establishment Officer, dated 4th June, 2003. It is stated in the said letter that a caste validity certificate has to be produced, which is issued by the Caste Scrutiny Committee, before the claim of the petitioner can be considered from Scheduled Tribe category. It was then conveyed to the petitioner to submit the caste validity certificate issued by the Caste Scrutiny Committee within a period of ten days from the date of receipt of the said letter, failing which the selection to the post of Executive Engineer from S.T. category will be treated as cancelled. The petitioner has not submitted any caste validity certificate issued by the Caste Scrutiny Committee and as such the effect of the impugned order dated 4th of June, 2003 is cancellation of the petitioners selection.

6. Shri N.C. Phadnis, learned Counsel appearing on behalf of the petitioner, submitted that as his tribe claim was once adjudicated upon by the then Competent Authority in the year 1982, it is not expected either under the provision of the Maharashtra Scheduled Caste, 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 (Maharashtra Act No. XXIII of 2001) or

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