Allahabad HC quashes UP govt orders notifying 17 OBC sub-castes as SC

The High Court said that provisions of Article 341 of the Constitution “do not leave any scope for including any Caste or Group to the list of Scheduled Caste in a State provided by the Constitution (Scheduled Castes) Order, 1950, except by law made by Parliament”.

While the state had a Samajwadi Party government when the first notification was passed in 2016, it was the BJP government which issued the 2019 notification.

The sub-castes which the SP and BJP governments intended to include in the SC category were Kahar, Kashyap, Kevat, Mallah, Nishad, Kumhar, Prajapati, Dheevar, Bind, Bhar, Rajbhar, Dhimar, Batham, Turha, Godia, Manjhi and Machhua.

The court was hearing a PIL filed by the Dr B R Ambedkar Granthalaya Evam Jan Kalyan, Gorakhpur, challenging two government orders dated December 21, 2016 and December 22, 2016. A separate writ petition filed in 2019 had challenged a government order dated June 24, 2019 on the same grounds.

The High Court found the December 21, 2016 order legal, saying that it only says members of the Majhwar caste, whose Entry Number is 53 in the Scheduled Castes Order, should be issued the necessary certificates after verification of their status and that members of this caste should not be confused with OBCs such as Godia, Mallah and so on.

About the December 22, 2016 order, the Bench said “it clearly recognises or acknowledges 17 Other Backward Classes as Scheduled Castes in the name of clarification”.

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“In whatever manner said, 17 Castes that are otherwise in the category of OBC, have been recognised by the order dated 22nd December, 2016 as Scheduled Castes in the State of Uttar Pradesh. This cannot be done in view of the provisions of Article 341 of the Constitution,” said the court.

Article 341 says that any change to the list of Scheduled Castes specified in the President’s order can only be made by Parliament by law.