- The Supreme Court ruled that States cannot alter the Scheduled Castes (SC) List notified under Article 341 of the Constitution.
- SC stated that any inclusion or exclusion of castes, races, or tribes must be done by Parliament, not by any other method.
| ARTICLE 341 IN THE CONSTITUTION OF INDIA 1. THE PRESIDENT MAY WITH RESPECT TO ANY STATE OR UNION TERRITORY, SPECIFY THE CASTES, RACES OR TRIBES OR PARTS OF OR GROUP WITHIN CASTES TO BE SCHEDULED CASTES IN RELATION TO THAT STATE OR UNION TERRITORY. 2. PARLIAMENT MAY BY LAW INCLUDE IN OR EXCLUDE FROM THE LIST OF SCHEDULED CASTES SPECIFIED IN A NOTIFICATION ISSUED UNDER CLAUSE (1) ANY CASTE, RACE OR TRIBE OR PART OF OR GROUP WITHIN ANY CASTE. |
- The Bihar government notification, based on the State Backward Classes Commission’s recommendation, aimed to merge the Extremely Backward Class (EBC) of Tanti-Tantwa with the Scheduled Caste of Pan/Sawasi, allowing Tanti-Tantwa to claim SC benefits.
- This decision aimed to extend SC benefits to the Tanti-Tantwa community and was upheld by the Patna High Court in 2017, but later challenged in the Supreme Court.
Dig Deeper: Read about the criteria for inclusion in the Scheduled Caste list.
