( 1 ) IN this Writ Petition presented by a lady Teacher on the establishment of the High School under the management of the Hubli-Dharwar Municipal Corporation ('corporation' for short) seeking for the issue of a direction to the Corporation to consider her case for promotion as head-Mistress of the High School, the following question of law arises for consideration : "whether a woman not belonging to Scheduled Caste by birth can be regarded as belonging to scheduled Caste for purposes of reservation of posts made by the State in exercise of its power under Clause (4) of Article 16 of the Constitution ?

( 2 ) THE facts of the case in brief are as follows :

i) The petitioner, by birth was a Christian by religion. She joined service as an Assistant Teacher on the establishment of the Lamington High School (Hubli)on 2-8-1976. Prior to that she had worked for a period of one month from 17-1-1973 to 15-2-1973 as Teacher in St. Joseph's school, Karwar and for a period of 8 months commencing from 12-8-1974 to 10-4-1975 in St. Michael's Convent High School, Karwar.

ii) While continuing on the establishment of the Lamington High School, in the services of the corporation, she