The Supreme Court ruled that states lack the authority to alter the Scheduled Caste list, overturning Bihar’s move to classify the Tanti-Tantwa community as Scheduled Castes. The Court affirmed that only the central government can modify these lists, as stipulated by Article 341 of the Indian Constitution.
New Delhi: The Supreme Court set-aside the Bihar government’s decision to remove the Tanti-Tantwa caste from the Extremely Backward Classes (EBC) list and merge it with the Pan/Sawasi caste in the Scheduled Caste (SC) list.
The Bench, comprising Justices Vikram Nath and Prashant Kumar Mishra, stated that the State government lacks the authority to modify the SC lists published under Article 341 of the Indian Constitution.
The Court explained, as per the judgment delivered on July 15,
“While the State may have valid grounds to remove ‘Tanti-Tantwa’ from the Extremely Backward Classes list based on the recommendation of the State Backward Commission, merging ‘Tanti-Tantwa’ with ‘Pan, Sawasi, Panr’ under Entry 20 of the Scheduled Castes list was a wrongful exercise, irrespective of the State’s intentions. Whether synonymous or not, any inclusion or exclusion of any caste, race, or tribe, or any subgroup within them, must be done by law made by the Parliament, not by any other method,”
The Tanti-Tantwa community initially categorized under Extremely Backward Classes by the Bihar government according to the Bihar Reservation of Vacancies in Posts and Services Act, 1991. However, on July 1, 2015, the State government passed a resolution to include the Tanti-Tantwa community in the Scheduled Caste list, thereby extending Scheduled Caste benefits to them. This change based on the State Commission for Backward Classes’ recommendation and was upheld by the Patna High Court in 2017.
Subsequently, this decision contested in the Supreme Court through two appeals. The State defended its resolution by asserting it merely clarificatory and that socio-historical factors warranted treating the Tanti-Tantwa and Pan-Sawasi communities (the latter already included in the Scheduled Castes list) synonymously.
However, the Supreme Court rejected this argument, emphasizing that any changes to the Scheduled Caste list must be enacted through a law passed by Parliament.
The Court declared,
“We have no hesitation in holding that the Resolution dated 01.07.2015 was patently illegal, erroneous as the State Government had no competence/ authority/ power to tinker with the lists of Scheduled Castes published under Article 341 of the Constitution.”
Consequently, the Court annulled the State government‘s July 2015 resolution.
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Despite this, the Court acknowledged that members of the Tanti-Tantwa community who obtained jobs through the SC quota after the 2015 resolution not at fault. The Court stated the blame lay with the State’s actions, not with the individuals from the Tanti-Tantwa community. As a result, the Court directed that these individuals should be reallocated to posts reserved for Extremely Backward Classes, without terminating their services or recovering benefits they had received.
Senior Advocate Indira Jaisingh represented the appellants, while Senior Advocate Ranjeet Kumar represented the State of Bihar. Senior Advocates Salman Khurshid, Rakesh Dwivedi, and V Giri appeared for intervenors, and Additional Solicitor General Aishwarya Bhati appeared for the Union of India.
Read Judgement: [Dr. Bhim Rao Ambedkar Vichar Manch Bihar, Patna and anr v. The State of Bihar and Ors].