IMPORTNAT POINT
A person belonging to Scheduled Tribe in one State cannot claim benefit of reservation for Scheduled Tribe in other State where that Tribe is not notified as Scheduled Tribe.

JUDGMENT

P. Venkatarama Reddi, J.-Delay condoned and leave granted in S.L.P. (Civil) No. 16466 of 2001 filed by the State of U.P.

2. Aggrieved by the judgment of the High Court at Allahabad, the present appeals are preferred by the U.P. Public Service Commission and the State of U.P. Pursuant to an advertisement issued on 31-12-1994 by the U.P. Public Service Commission for Combined State/Upper Subordinate Examination, the respondent herein submitted his application as a Scheduled Tribe candidate. He passed the preliminary and main examination held in June/July, 1996. He was called for interview for consideration to the post of History Lecturer in the vacancy reserved for Scheduled Tribes. In the results published on 14-11-1996, the respondent was declared successful. However, it is the case of the Service Commission that on a recheck of the documents furnished by the respondent, it was found that the Naga tribe to which the respondent belongs is not a recognised Scheduled Tribe in the State of U.P. In the Presidential order issued under Article 342 of the Constitution as well as the State Government s notification, only five tribes are mentioned as Scheduled Tribes. Therefore, the appellant-U.P. Public Service Commission did not send up its recommendation for recruitment of the respondent. At the same time, on 1-7-1997 the Commission intimated to the respondent that his selection was cancelled. The respondent, therefore, filed the writ petition under Article 226 of the Constitution with a prayer to quash the order of the Public Service Commission dated 1-7-1997 and to direct the respondents in the writ petition to offer the appointment to him. This writ petition was allowed by the impugned judgment of the Division Bench of the High Court.

3. The High Court was of the view that there was no bar under any of the provisions to extend the benefit of reservation to Scheduled Tribe candidates of other States. The High Court observed:

"...There is no law and no provision has been brought to the notice of the Court which will limit the said reservation quota to be extended only to citizen of the State of U.P...."

4. The High Court directed the State of U.P. to offer the appointment to the respondent on the footing that he is a S.T. candidate.

5. It is not in dispute that Naga tribe is not specified as one of the Scheduled Tribes in the State of U.P. The respondent claimed that his forefathers were residents of Old Ngaulong village of Kohima District in Nagaland and they initially migrated to Chhapra in Bihar and the father of the respondent shifted his residence to Allahabad and after rendering service in the Army, settled down at Allahabad. The respondent, pursued his studies in Allahabad. Based on the certificates issued by the Nagaland authorities, the Tehsildar, Sadar, Chial Tehsil, Allahabad issued a certificate on 18-1-1996 to the effect that the respondent "has been accorded recognition as Scheduled Tribe-Naga as per the Scheduled Tribes Order of 1970 relating to Nagaland."

6. Thus, the certificate affirms the fact that respondent is a Naga tribal which is a notified Scheduled Tribe in the State of Nagaland. During the pendency of the writ petition, the genuineness of the certificate issued by the Nagaland authorities was confirmed through enquires made with the Nagaland authorities. The question is whether respondent can claim the benefit of reservation in public service in the State of U.P. as a member of Scheduled Tribe though Naga is not specified to be a Scheduled Tribe in that State.

7. It may be noted that the reservation in favour of Scheduled Tribes to the extent of 2% is provided for by the U.P. Public Services (Reservation for Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and other Backward Classes) Act, 1994. There is no particular definition of Scheduled Tribe in the Act. However, the term Scheduled Tribe can only be understood in accordance with the provisions of Article 342 read with the notifications issued thereunder as