Supreme Court denies to Dismiss two Caste Alteration Circulars issued by Bihar Government

Caste Certificate SC ST OBC Law Insider

Nishka Srinivas Veluvali

Published On: January 22, 2022 at 15:49 IST

On Saturday, the Supreme Court refuted to consider the Plea requesting Dismissal of two Circulars dated May 16, 2014 and July 1, 2015, issued by the Bihar Government.

The 2014 Circular issued by the State of Bihar includes the ‘Khatwe’ Caste (OBC) into the ‘Chaupal’ Caste (which is inclusive into the Scheduled Caste as per the Central List) and the 2015 Circulars transferred the ‘Tanti/Tatwa’ (OBC) to ‘Pan/Swasi’ (Scheduled Caste).

The Bench consisting of Justice S Abdul Nazeer and Justice Krishna Murari asked the Petitioner to proceed to the High Court and Quashed the Petition.

The Petition filed by Youth for Dalit Adivasi Right opposing the Impugned Circulars that allowed the Government of Bihar to issue the Scheduled Caste Certificates to the OBC candidates from the ‘Khatwe’ or ‘Tanti/Tatwa’ Caste.

The Petition stated, “This complete violation of the provisions of the Constitution of India and various Judgements of the Honourable Supreme Court, wherein this Honourable Court from time to time had held that any modification in the Scheduled Caste list can be made only by an act of Parliament. In the present Case, no modification has been done by the Parliament with regard to ‘Khatwe’ and ‘Tanti’ Caste”.

The Petitioner sought for relief to grant a Stay Order on the issuance of SC Certificates to the OBC candidates.

It also asserted that the same Circulars were challenged in High Court of Bihar at Patna however, the High Court upheld the same in April 3, 2017.

The Petition continued, “Therefore, the contention by the State of Bihar that they have only deleted an entry from the State list and validating the circular is in itself Unconstitutional and Legally not tenable”.

The Petition inferred that the State of Bihar has acted against Article 341 of the Indian Constitution and that issuance of SC Certificates to the non-members of the Scheduled Caste is Unconstitutional.

Also read: Scheduled Castes and Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act

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