The Supreme Court on Friday said only Parliament can include a community in the Scheduled Castes (SC) and Scheduled Tribes (ST) list.
It said the courts had no power to order such inclusion, drawing attention to the ethnic violence that began in Manipur in February 2023 after the high court made such a recommendation to the Centre.
On March 27, 2023, a single-judge bench of Manipur High Court ordered the Centre to consider the plea of the majority Meitei community for the grant of ST status. This fuelled an avalanche of protests that have since enmeshed the state in an unending spiral of violence and riven the Meitei community and Kuki-Zo communities. The Kuki-Zos are tribals.
The ethnic strife has so far claimed 260 lives and displaced more than 60,000 people besides causing colossal destruction of private and public properties.
On Friday, an organisation called the Telangana State Arekatika Khatik Sangh submitted a petition in the Supreme Court seeking an order to the Centre to include the Arekatikas in the list of SC communities across the country.
The Arekatika community, which represents professional butchers, pleaded that they are considered SCs in some states and OBCs in others.
Its members live in abject poverty and social conditions because of their profession. When an Arekatika woman marries in a state where the community is not listed in the SC category, she loses her Scheduled Caste status, the plea said.
However, a bench of Justice B.R. Gavai and Justice Augustine George Masih at the outset refused to entertain the petition, saying only Parliament has the power to include or exclude any community from the SC/ST list.
“The law is so well settled. Even the high court cannot look into this. Only Parliament alone can do this. You know what happened in Manipur?” Justice Gavai, heading the bench, orally asked the petitioner’s advocate when he insisted that at least Telangana High Court could be asked to consider the plea for the inclusion of Arekatikas in the SC list.
The counsel sought permission to withdraw the plea, following which the bench said: “Learned counsel for the petitioner seeks permission to withdraw this petition. Permission is granted. Hencethe writ petition is disposed of as withdrawn.”
