Today, On 29th August, The Supreme Court has issued notice on a plea filed by Koya tribe members challenging the Telangana High Court’s order granting Scheduled Tribe status to Lambadi, Sugali and Bajara communities, raising concerns about its impact on reservation benefits.
New Delhi: The Supreme Court issued a notice regarding a plea that challenges the Telangana High Court’s decision from December 17, 2024.
This decision addressed the petition questioning the Scheduled Tribes status granted to the Lambadi, Sugali, and Bajara communities.
The case heard by a Bench comprising Justices JK Maheshwari and Ajay Bishnoi, who directed notices to be sent to both the Central and Telangana Governments.
During the proceedings, Senior Advocate Dama Seshadri Naidu, along with Advocates Ramesh Allanki and Alabhya Dhamija, represented the petitioners.
The petitioner, who belongs to the Koya tribe,a constitutionally recognized Scheduled Tribe, initially filed a writ petition in 2016 under Article 226, seeking to declare the inclusion of these communities as unconstitutional.
The Telangana High Court had previously relied on a 2018 judgment in W.P. No. 21254 of 2018, instructing the petitioners to take their concerns to the Central Government.
This 2018 judgment is currently being contested before the Supreme Court in SLP(C) No. 17519/2018 (Gondwana Welfare Society v. State of Telangana), where notice has been issued and leave granted.
In the latest plea to the Apex Court, the petitioner argues that the incorporation of the Lambadi, Sugali, and Bajara communities into the Constitution (Scheduled Tribes) Order, 1950, through the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes Orders (Amendment) Acts of 1976 and 2002, was executed in violation of the constitutional procedures outlined in Article 342.
The petitioners assert that this inclusion has significantly affected the Koya community’s access to educational, employment, and electoral reservations.
The plea states,
“The petitioners have had to suffer grossly on an educational, economic and social level due to their meager share in reaping the benefit of reservation provided to them in matters of admissions to schools and colleges and public employment vis-à-vis the Lambada and Sugali (Banjara) Tribe candidates who are considerably well advanced in matters of education and finances and the Petitioners being the indigenous tribal’s have to suffer in the face of the subsequent inclusion of the members of Sugals/Lambadis/Banjaras as the Scheduled Tribes since 1976,”
Case Title: Tellam Venkata Rao v. Union of India