The President alone is authorized to specify the castes deemed to be Scheduled Castes, and any inclusion or exclusion from the list can only be done by Parliament. The Constitution intended all the castes mentioned in the list to be members of one group and could not be subdivided for any purpose.

Judgment

S.B. SINHA, J.- Leave granted.

2. Validity of the Constitution (Scheduled Castes) Orders (Second Amendment) Act, 2002, whereby and whereunder the "Mochis" outside Dang District and Umargaon Taluka of Valsad District in the State of Gujarat were excluded from Schedule I to the Constitution (Scheduled Castes) Order, 1950, was in question before the Gujarat High Court. Its validity has been upheld by the High Court holding:

"29. For the foregoing reasons, the challenge of the petitioner against the impugned Amendment Act of 2002 and the imposition of area restriction in respect of the Mochi caste as done in the varied Entry 4 of the Order of 1950, as well as against the impugned government resolution dated 18-2-2003 fails and the contentions raised on behalf of the petitioner and the supporting Respondent 10 have no substance. The petition is, therefore, rejected. Rule is discharged. There shall be no order as to costs." 3. Article 341 of the Constitution of India reads as under:

"341. Scheduled Castes.-(1) The President may with respect to any State or Union Territory, and where it is a State after consultation with the Governor thereof, by public notification, specify the castes, races or tribes or parts of or groups within castes, races or tribes which shall for the purposes of this Constitution be deemed to be Scheduled Castes in relation to that State or Union Territory, as the case may be.

(2) Parliament may by law include in or exclude from the list of Scheduled Castes specified in a notification issued under clause (1) any 9 caste, race or tribe or part of or group within any caste, race or tribe, but save as aforesaid a notification issued under the said clause shall not be varied by any subsequent notification." 4. By reason of the aforementioned provision, the Constitution authorised the President to specify the castes, races or tribes or parts of or groups within castes, races or tribes which shall for the purposes thereof be deemed to be Scheduled Castes in relation to that State or Union Territory by public notification. Such notification issued under clause (I) shall not be varied by any subsequent notification as provided by clause (2) of Article 341 except by the President. As and when States were formed, the President had power to issue notification as for that State such notification would not be a variation of the existing notification, but a fresh notification which could, after its issuance, not be varied by the President. It provides for a composite scheme. The modalities for issuance of public notification under Article 341 have been prescribed to enable the President to exercise his power in relation to a State wherefor consultation with the Governor is required to be done. Scheduled Castes are specified for the purpose of the Constitution. If power can be exercised not only for a caste or a part of group within the caste, in our opinion, it can also include a part of the State.

5. By a notification dated 18-12-2002 issued by the Central Government, the entry "Mochi" for the State of Gujarat except Dang District and Umargaon Taluka of Valsad District has been deleted. The State of Maharashtra adopted the said notification on 18-2-2003 and it was implemented from 18-12-2002.

6. Submission of the learned counsel for the appellants, however, is that the superior courts should exercise a wider power of judicial review in respect of such a matter in view of the fact that the legislative power of Parliament under Article 341 (2) of the Constitution of India is of special nature and not plenary. We do not agree. List prepared by the President under Article 341 (1) of the Constitution of India forms one class of homogeneous group. Only one list is to be prepared by the President and if any amendment thereto is to be made, the same is to be done by Parliament. Even the State does not have any legislative competence to alter the same.

7. The question came up for consideration before a Constitution Bench of this C