S.C. DHARMADHIKARI, J.

1. Rule. The respondents waive service through their respective counsel. By consent, rule is made returnable forthwith and the writ petition is taken up for hearing and final disposal.

2. By this petition under Article 226 of the Constitution of India, the petitioner challenges the order of the District Caste Certificate Scrutiny Committee, Mumbai Suburban, Mumbai, invalidating the claim of the petitioner as belonging to Other Backward Class.

3. The order under challenge, dated 16.8.2017, holds that the petitioner's caste claim, based on the Certificate issued, now cannot be validated. He will, therefore, have to forgo this Caste Certificate issued to him. This Caste Certificate, dated 7.11.2016, certifying him as belonging to Yadav, Other Backward Class is, therefore, cancelled.

4. It is common ground that the petitioner in this petition is a resident of Mumbai and Citizen of India. The respondents to this petition include the State, Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai, the Municipal Commissioner, the District Caste Certificate Scrutiny Committee, Mumbai Suburban, Mumbai, and respondent Nos. 5 and 6 are the original contestants and to an election. The petitioner in his petition says that he was desirous of availing the benefits meant for the Other Backward Classes in the State of Maharashtra. The Election Commission declared election programme for the general elections of the Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai. There are 227 Wards where the elections were scheduled to be held. The petitioner says that he belongs to Yadav Caste, recognised as Other Backward Class in the State of Maharashtra. The Yadav Caste was included in the category of Other Backward Class in the State of Maharashtra by and under Government Resolution dated 5.10.1979. Initially, two Castes/Classes styled as Other Backward Classes Yadav and Ahir were included in the list of Other Backward Class at Serial No. 198. The claim of the petitioner is that they were taken as similar or synonymous. Later on, Ahir was deleted from the Other Backward Class and included in the Nomadic Tribe category. Subsequently, by a Government Resolution dated 30.1.2014 Ahir has been included again in the Other Backward Class category at Serial No. 198 along with Yadav as similar or synonymous.

5. Relying upon all this, the petitioner claimed a Caste Certificate. On an application made to the Competent Authority, the Caste Certificate was issued on 7.11.2016, copy of which is at Annexure "C" to the paper-book.

6. The petitioner contested the elections from Ward No. 72 (K-East). He relied upon his Caste Certificate. He submitted his application/nomination on 2.7.12017 in the prescribed Form. After his Nomination was accepted, the elections followed, in the sense the Nomination was treated as valid till the date of the poll. After the polling, the results were declared and the petitioner was declared elected, he having secured the highest number of votes amongst the contesting candidates.

7. Then, the petitioner was required to obtain a Caste Validity Certificate in terms of the legislation, namely, the Mumbai Municipal Corporation Act, 1888 but amended later on. Hence, the Certificate on the strength of which the election was contested by the petitioner and won, came to be forwarded for scrutiny and verification by the Competent Scrutiny Committee.

8. The petitioner, as is the demand of that law, was obliged to prove and substantiate his caste claim. He filed number of documents, including a Caste Certificate dated 20.3.1980, issued by the Tahsildar, Madiyahu, Jaunpur, Uttar Pradesh. That Certificate, according to the petitioner, certifies that his father Shobhnath Rupnath Yadav belongs to Ahir (Yadav) Caste. Meaning thereby, this was treated as synonymous to Yadav in the State of Uttar Pradesh at the relevant time. The petitioner also relied upon a Caste Certificate dated 25.7.1986, issued by the Tahsildar and Executive Magistrate, Andheri, Mumbai ce