JUDGMENT :

1. Rule. Rule made returnable forthwith. By consent of the parties, heard finally.

2. By the present writ petition, the petitioner is challenging the order dated 9.5.2022 passed by the respondent No. 3 – District Collector, Nanded and confirmed by the order dated 26.7.2022 passed by the respondent No. 2 – Additional Divisional Commissioner, Aurangabad, thereby disqualifying the petitioner under section 10-1A read with section 16 of the Maharashtra Village Panchayat Act, 1958 for non submission of caste validity certificate within time stipulated in section 10-1A.

3. The brief facts, leading to the institution of the present writ petition, are summarized as under :-

The petitioner contends that she belongs to Koli Mahadeo Tribe which is a scheduled tribe. On 25.2.1991 the competent authority issued tribe certificate in favour of the petitioner.

4. The petitioner contends that general election of Village Panchayat Karla, Tq. Umari, District Nanded was declared in 2015 and one post was reserved for S.T. Women category. The petitioner contested the election of the said Village Panchayat against the post reserved for S.T. Category and got elected for the said post. The petitioner submits that as per section 10- 1A of the Maharashtra Village Panchayat Act, the candidate contesting the election against the reserved post is required to submit the caste validity certificate along with the nomination form and in the event, she does not have a caste validity certificate at the time of filing nomination, then the candidate has to produce the proof of submitting the caste certificate to the Scrutiny Committee for verification through the concerned authority.

5. In the instant case, the petitioner contends that the petitioner did not have caste validity certificate at the time of nomination and as such, the petitioner had forwarded the proposal for validation of her caste certificate to the Scrutiny Committee on 12.1.2015. The petitioner contends that the Scrutiny Committee disposed of the proposal of the petitioner by order dated 18.3.2016 by which the Scrutiny Committee confiscated the tribe certificate of the petitioner, however, leaving it open to the petitioner to get the appropriate caste certificate from the competent authority as it was not as per the Presidential Order. It is the contention of the petitioner that the petitioner was not aware of the order dated 18.3.2016. Meanwhile the earlier term of the petitioner was over and the new term of the village panchayat was declared in the month of December 2020.

6. The petitioner contends that the petitioner again contested the election against the post reserved for S.T. Women category in the same village panchayat. She filed her nomination form and produced her acknowledgment of the earlier caste certificate being submitted to the Scrutiny Committee, on the alleged impression that the scrutiny of her caste certificate was pending before the Caste Scrutiny Committee and was not invalidated on 18.3.2016.

7. The petitioner submits that the petitioner again got elected on 19.1.2021 against the reserved post of S.T. Women category from the said village panchayat. The petitioner was not able to produce the caste certificate within the stipulated period of twelve months from the date of election.

8. Sometime in the month of February 2022 after the period of one year was over to submit the caste validity certificate, the respondent No. 6 – Pandurang Nagoji Kolhe filed dispute before the respondent No. 3 - District Collector, Nanded by taking recourse to the provisions of sections 10-1A read with 16 of the Maharashtra Village Panchayat Act and prayed that the petitioner be declared as disqualified as her caste certificate is invalidated by the Scrutiny Committee in the year 2016. The respondent No. 6 alleged that the petitioner’s caste claim was invalidated in the year 2016, she did not get new certificate and thus, did not submit caste certificate before the Scrutiny Committee for verificat