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The bench was hearing a petition from a student wherein the validity certificate was ready on July 24, 2019, it was not delivered to the student until February 17, 2020, resulting into denial of admission to her in the BHMS Degree Course
The Bombay High Court recently imposed a fine of Rs. 300,000 on both the member and the chairman of the caste scrutiny committee due to a significant delay in issuing a caste validity certificate to a student. The court characterized this delay as a situation causing extreme stress and inconvenience.
A division bench of the High Court, consisting of Justice Sunil B Shukre and Justice Firdosh Pooniwala, was hearing a petition from a student wherein the validity certificate was ready on July 24, 2019, it was not delivered to the student until February 17, 2020, resulting into denial of admission to her in the BHMS Degree Course.
The petitioner argued that the deadline for submitting the validity certificate was September 30, 2019. If the certificate had been delivered to her promptly, she would have submitted it within the specified timeframe. However, the delay caused by the Scrutiny Committee in delivering the certificate prevented her from meeting this deadline.
The Scrutiny Committee contended that they had validated the petitioner's caste claim on July 24, 2019, but they sent notices to her requesting additional documents for reasons they considered valid.
In its order, the bench noted that the committee had clearly admitted responsibility for the delayed delivery of the caste validity certificate.
“It would be clear from the admissions given by the Scrutiny Committee that it was solely responsible for belated delivery of caste validity certificate to the petitioner and if that is so, this would be a case wherein petitioner cannot be permitted to be punished for the mistake or illegality, whatever one may choose to say by the Scrutiny Committee,” the bench said.
The bench further added that “There may be a cut-off date prescribed for submission of the validity certificates by the aspiring candidates, but in a case like this, where the delay in delivery of the validity certificate lay completely at the doorsteps of the Scrutiny Committee, such deadline cannot be operated in a manner as to cause injustice to a deserving candidate like the petitioner,” the bench noted.
The bench then directed the college to accept the petitioner's admission application and also asked the members and chairman of the scrutiny committee to deposit Rs. 3 lakhs on behalf of the petitioner into the "Tata Memorial Hospital."
Case title: XYZ vs State of Maharashtra
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