ORAL JUDGMENT :- Rule. Rule made returnable forthwith. The matter is finally heard with consent of learned counsel for the parties.

2. The election programme for the election to Deolali Pravara Municipal Council was declared and Ward No.5 was earmarked for open category. The respondent No.5 filed his nomination form for contesting the election to the Municipal Council from Ward No.5 from general category. The nomination form of the respondent No.5 was, however, rejected by the respondent No.4. Returning Officer by order dated 29-10-2006. Being aggrieved by the order of rejection of his nomination form, the respondent No. 5 preferred an election appeal before the 2nd Ad hoc Additional District Judge, Ahmednagar, which came to be numbered as Election Appeal No.1 of 2006. The 2nd Ad hoc Additional District Judge, by the judgment dated 3-11-2006, allowed the appeal filed by the respondent No.5 and declared that the order passed by the Returning Officer on 29-10-2006 was illegal. The Returning Officer was directed to accept the nomination form of the respondent No. 5 and to allow him to contest the election. The order passed by the 2nd Ad hoc Additional District Judge on 3-112006 is impugned in the instant petition.

3. It is not in dispute that the respondent No.5 was elected as the President of Deolali Pravara Municipal Council in the year 2001 for a term of five years. In the year 2001, the respondent No.5 had contested the election to the Deolali Pravara Municipal Council on a seat which was earmarked for Other Backward Class category. It was the claim of respondent No.5 that the respondent No.5 belonged to Kunbi caste and hence, was entitled to contest the election on a seat which was reserved for the Other Backward Class category. The caste certificate of the respondent No.5 was sent to the Caste Certificate Verification Committee and the Caste Certificate Verification Committee validated the caste claim of the respondent No.5 as belonging to Kunbi caste, which was included in Other Backward Class. The order passed by the Caste Certificate Verification Committee was challenged by one Jagannath Damodhar Hole in Writ Petition No. 4476 of 2002. By a judgment dated 17th October, 2003, this Court allowed the petition filed by Jagannath Damodhar Hole and quashed and set aside the order passed by the Caste Certificate Verification Committee validating the caste claim of the respondent No.5. This Court further held that the caste certificate issued to the respondent No. 5 on 3-11-2001 was liable to be cancelled and confiscated. It was further held by this Court in the aforesaid judgment that three generations of respondent No.5 i.e. Kashiram, Rangnath and respondent No.5 himself claimed to belong to Maratha caste till the respondent No.5 obtained the caste certificate dated 3-11-2001 from the Sub Divisional Officer, Shrirampur. The judgment passed by this Court in Writ Petition No. 4476 of 2002 was challenged by the respondent No. 5 before the Supreme Court but the Special Leave Petition filed by the respondent No. 5 was dismissed by the Supreme Court on 15-4-2005.

4. After the dismissal of the Special Leave Petition, the Collector, Ahmednagar passed an order under section 44(3) of the Maharashtra Municipal Councils, Nagar Panchayats and Industrial Townships Act, 1965 declaring that the seat of the President of Deolali Pravara Municipal Council had become vacant as the respondent No.5 was disqualified under the provisions of section 16(1)(1 C) of the Act of 1965. It is further not in dispute that the respondent No. 5 had not challenged the order passed by the Collector, Ahmednagar on 7-5-2005 before the State Government under the provisions of sub-section (4) of section 44 of the Act of 1965.

5. In the backdrop of the aforesaid factual matrix, it was the case of the respondent No.5 before the 2nd Ad hoc Additional District Judge, Ahmednagar that the Returning Officer was not justified in rejecting the nomination form of the respondent

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