ORDER

1. Rule.

2. Issue notice to the Attorney General for India.

3. We have heard learned counsel for the parties on interim relief. Interim f relief prayed by the petitioners in the present petition reads as under:

(a) to pass an ad interim ex parte order staying the effect and operation of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes Orders (Amendment) Act, 2002; or

(b) to pass an ad interim ex parte order permitting the petitioners and other members of their communities to contest the forthcoming U.P. 9 State Assembly Elections on seats reserved for Scheduled Castes;

(c) to pass such other and/or further orders as may be deemed fit and necessary in the facts of the case.

4. The case of the petitioners is that they belong to ten communities of the State of Uttar Pradesh, which have been transferred from the list of Scheduled Castes to the list of Scheduled Tribes under the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes Orders (Amendment) Act, 2002 (Act 10 of 2003) (hereinafter referred to as "the Act"). It is the case of the petitioners that they belonged to Scheduled Caste. As Scheduled Caste members, they were entitled to exercise and enjoy all fundamental rights, constitutional rights an