Manipur MLA moves SC against HC order on ST status for Meitei: ‘Community not a tribe’

The basic mistake, it said, was in directing the State to make a recommendation to the Centre to include the Meetei/Meitei community as a Scheduled Tribe in the Presidential list, and the second being the conclusion that the issue of inclusion of Meeteis/Meiteis was pending for nearly 10 years.

The third mistake, the petition noted, was in concluding that Meeteis/Meiteis are tribes.

In his plea, Gangmei contended that the Meetei/Meitei community is not a tribe and has never been recognised as such. He said they are “advanced”, although some of them may come within the Scheduled Caste (SC) or Other Backward Classes (OBC) category. According to the petitioner, there is no recommendation of the state government for inclusion of the community in the ST list, and there is no recommendation for such inclusion pending before the Centre either.

Gangmei was of the view that merely because Manipur may have received some representation by the Meeteis/Meiteis does not oblige the State to do anything unless it is convinced that the Meeteis/Meiteis are tribes and that they deserve to be in the ST list. “No one can force the State to send such a recommendation without the State concluding that the Meeteis/Meiteis are a tribe and they deserve to be in the Scheduled Tribes list,” the petitioner maintained.

Gangmei argued that the mere fact that the representation of Meeteis/Meiteis may be pending with the State is of no consequence. The State is not bound to act unless it is satisfied that people from the Meetei/Meitei community are tribes and satisfy the Constitutional requirements of being included in the ST list.

The plea said that the High Court could not have given any direction to the state government even if it had considered the material and come to the conclusion that Meetei/Meitei people are tribes and satisfy the Constitutional requirement for inclusion in the ST list.