Allahabad HC observes State govt not empowered to include certain castes as STs

Prayagraj (Uttar Pradesh): The Allahabad High Court on Thursday set aside the Uttar Pradesh government's order of designating two Gond sub-castes Nayak and Ojha in the ST category.

A Division Bench of Acting Chief Justice M N Bhandari and Justice Rajendra Kumar gave the order, allowing a petition filed by the Nayak Jan Seva Sansthan.

The petitioner contended that the UP government can't notify castes in the Scheduled Tribes (ST) category as the power to declare this lies with the Union government under Article 342 of the Constitution. In 2003, the Union government through a gazette notification on January 8 had notified certain castes to be STs for 13 districts of Uttar Pradesh.

On July 15 last year, the state government had issued a notification naming some castes in 13 districts of the state as per a notification of 2003. The government also added the two sub-castes of Gond, i.e., Nayak and Ojha, in STs.

After going through relevant provisions and rules, the court observed that the state government does not have the competence to issue an order, giving interpretation or substitution of the Union government notification to include certain castes as STs.

The court thus allowed the petition and set aside the state government order of July 15, 2020.