JUDGMENT

Kamal Khata, J. -Rule. By consent of parties, Rule made returnable forthwith and the Petition is taken up for final disposal at the stage of admission.

2. By this Petition under Article 226 of the Constitution of India, the Petitioner challenges the validity of the Caste Certificate issued by the Competent Authority Mumbai Suburban to the 1st Respondent on the ground that the Competent Authority Mumbai City alone had the jurisdiction to issue it. The impugned Caste Certificate bearing No. 1285/2016 dated 7th November 2016 was issued to the 1st Respondent by the Deputy Collector, Mumbai Suburban.

3. Mr Anturkar for the Petitioner restricts his arguments to the issue that the Caste Certificate is invalid as the 1st Respondent was born at Kamathipura, Mumbai on 29th August 1967 and therefore the Competent Authority Mumbai City alone could have issued it and not the Competent Authority, Mumbai Suburban. He submits that 'merely' because the 1st Respondent was residing at Jogeshwari 'since 1968', the Competent Authority at Mumbai Suburban had no authority or jurisdiction to issue the Caste Certificate.

4. He relies on the Full Bench (FB) judgement of Rajendra Shivram Thakur v State