The court ruled that administrative delays in issuing validity certificates should not penalize eligible Scheduled Tribe candidates in educational admissions, advocating for equitable treatment under reservation policies.

JUDGMENT :

RAJNISH R. VYAS, J.

1. Heard. Rule. Rule made returnable forthwith. By consent of the parties, petition is taken up for final hearing at the stage of admission.

2.....

The meaning of the aforesaid Shubhashit can be said to be “there is no knowledge for the seekers of comfort, and no comfort for the seekers of knowledge. A seeker of comfort should give up knowledge and a seeker of knowledge should give up comfort".

It seems that petitioner’s (who is 18 years old) struggle for education has rightly proved that a seeker of knowledge should give up comfort.

3. The facts narrated hereinbelow would reveal that the petitioner, who is a bright student of Scheduled Tribe Category (S.T.), is a victim of the system.

4. The petitioner belongs to the “Thakur Tribe”, which is recognized as a Scheduled Tribe in the Constitution (Scheduled Tribes) Order, 1950 at entry no. 44. After passing his 12^th Standard examination in the Science stream, he intended to pursue his education in Bachelor of Engineer, which is a four year undergraduate degree course. On 13/12/2023, the petitioner submitted his validity claim before Tribe Certificate Scrutiny Committee, which was duly registered on 19/12/2023. The petitioner’s father and cousin brother had already received Scheduled Tribe Certificates (Thakur) pursuant to orders passed in Writ Petition Nos. 4489 of 2021 and 3735 of 2017; even the petitioner’s sister was no exception.

5. Respondent no.4 - State Common Entrance Test Cell, published scheduled of activities for admission to First Year Undergraduate Technical Courses in Engineering and Technology on its Website. The admission process started from 20/06/2025 and concluded on 15/09/2025.

6. The petitioner, seeking admission in the aforesaid course applied from Scheduled Tribe Category and appeared in examination of C.E.T. i.e. “Common Entrance Test”. In view of the marks secured by the petitioner, he could secure admission in Pimpri Chinchwad College of Engineer and Research, Ravet, Pune, in Cap Round No.4 under the Scheduled Tribe Category. Accordingly, a provisional allotment letter was issued by respondent No.4 on 01/09/2025. The petitioner was required to report to the institute on or before 04/09/2025.

7. At this juncture, it is necessary to mention here that the issue of grant of the ‘Tribe Validity Certificate’ though pending before the concerned committee, was not decided, which compelled the petitioner to forward his request by way of an e-mail on 03/09/2025 to Respondent No.4 / State Common Entrance Test Cell, requesting an extension of time for submission of the Tribe Validity Certificate. The reason mentioned in e-mail for non-submission of certificate was pendency of proceedings, since the Officer-In-charge was unavailable due to leave. In the said e-mail, it was also stated by the petitioner that, as per Admission Rules, if he failed to submit the certificate by 04/09/2025, his admission would be converted to the Open Category and consequently, his admission would be cancelled. The petitioner also raised a similar query to that effect on the Portal provided by Respondent No.4 with the same request. The petitioner was informed by short message service that he was required to upload Tribe Validity Certificate on or before 04/09/2025, which date was later extended by one day due to administrative reasons.

8. On 08/09/2022, by short message service, the petitioner was informed that his admission had been cancelled because he had failed to produce the Tribe V