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3. The petitioner was appointed as an Assistant Teacher by the respondent/Chief Officer, Municipal Council, Wardha, against the vacancy reserved for Scheduled Tribe category based upon a caste certificate belonging to "Halba- Scheduled Tribe" on 29.7.1998. The petitioner was working on the post accordingly. The wp5530.12.odt respondent/management withhold the salary of the petitioner for non production of the caste certificate (The certificate) which was pending since 2002. By order dated 18.7.2005, this Court directed the Caste Scrutiny Committee (The Committee) to dispose of petitioner's case within a period of four months with the observation that "if the report is adverse, it will be open for the respondents to take such steps as are permissible in law."

Vijaya Deorao Nandanwar does not belong to the Halba, Scheduled Tribe and hence her claim towards the same is held invalid. Her Caste Certificate granted/issued by the Executive Magistrate, Narkhed, Distt. Nagpur, vide cert.

No. 193/MRC-81/92-93, dated 21.8.1992 is hereby cancelled. "

5. The petitioner, therefore, challenged the order in W.P. No. wp5530.12.odt 5008/09. After hearing the parties including the State of Maharashtra, the writ petition was rejected by the following short order.

17. The Supreme Court in Kavita (supra) even after referring to the subsequent anti protection decisions including R. Vishwanatha Pillai v. State of Kerala1; State of Maharashtra v. Sanjay K. Nimje (supra); Bank of India v. Dattatray and also by referring to the Government Circular as applied, has in para 13, 15, 16 and 17, observed as under :

"13. We find merit in that contention. If 'Halba-Koshti' has been treated as "Halba" even before the appellant joined service as a Teacher and if the only reason for her ouster is the law declared by this Court in Milind's case, there is no reason why the protection against ouster given by this Court to appointees whose applications had become final should not be extended to the appellant also. The Constitution Bench had in Milind's case noticed the background in which the confusion had prevailed for many years and the fact that appointments and admissions were made for a long time treating 1 (2004) 2 SCC 105 2 (2008) 4 SCC 612 wp5530.12.odt 'Koshti' as a Scheduled Tribe and directed that such admissions and appointments wherever the same had attained finality will not be affected by the decision taken by this Court. After the pronouncement of judgment in Milind's case, a batch of cases was directed to be listed for hearing before a Division Bench of this Court. The Division Bench eventually decided those cases by an order dated 12th December 2000 (State of Maharashtra v. Om Raj1 ) granting benefit of protection against ouster to some of the respondents on the authority of the view taken by this Court in Milinds case. One of these cases, namely, Civil Appeal No. 7375/2002 arising out of SLP No. 6524 of 1998 related the appointment of a 'Koshti' as an Assistant Engineer against a vacancy reserved for a 'Halba/Scheduled Tribe candidate'. This court extended the benefit of protection against ouster to the said candidate also by a short order passed in the following words:

The cases which are governed by Milind (supra) cannot be equated with the cases where cause of action arose on or 18.10.2001. The procedure of caste certificate validation are also not foreign to the scheme and object of the Act. The respective obligations of the parties, especially petitioner/ student/ employee, whosoever wants protection or benefit of particular caste, even otherwise is required to file a caste certificate, at least on the basis of then existing rules. The Employer/Department if satisfied need not insist for any further documents. The Department/Employer if asks and or forwards an application for appropriate validation of the certificate, the 1 (1994) 6 SCC 241 wp5530.12.odt employee/student is under obligation to cooperate and get the certificate in accordance with law. This requirement is not only for getting the benefits based upon the caste certificate. It is also for other various purposes, such as service record and other related records of the Department/Employer. We are inclined to observe that the submission that no certificate is necessary the moment protection is granted is incorrect. In Milind (supra), the issue was not about validity of certificate (Halba-Koshti/Koshti). The issue was only of the benefit of Scheduled Tribe. That does not mean that the requirement of certificate was also dispensed with. We are inclined to observe that the submission that once the protection is granted/awarded, the certificate is unnecessary formalities for any purpose, was not even contemplated and or decided in Milind (supra). The order of protection/reinstatement are on the foundation of the certificate on the date when the employee/student got the benefits and that has been continued by these supreme court orders. The Government Circulars from time to time, on the contrary, though granted/extended the protection to Halba-Koshti, no where dispenses with the requirement of the certificate but insisted for such certificate even to whom the Court has granted protection/reinstatement.