IN THE HIGH COURT OF BOMBAY
S.M. Daud, J.
Rajesh Arjunbhai Patel...Petitioner.
Versus
State of Maharashtra others... Respondents.
Writ Petition No. 4018 of 1987, decided on 31-7-1989.
Advocates appeared :
Kumar Desai, i/by Eastley Lam Co., for petitioner.
N.T. Saraf, for respondents 1 and 2.
D.M. Trivedi, for respondent No. 3.
The power to include or exclude from the enumeration of Scheduled Tribes under the Order of 1950 vests only in Parliament. This power cannot be encroached upon by the State Government in the guise of administrative instructions. The mischief of instruction No. 17 in Ex. S lies in a usuruption of power contrary to Article 342 (2). The power to enumerate Scheduled Tribes vested in the President and the notification containing such enumeration can be amended only by parliament. The State Government cannot in the guise of Government Resolutions cloaking interpretational codes give their Own construction to the list of Scheduled Tribes entitled to reservations .
2. Petitioner's father Arjunbhai and mother Meenabehn hail from Village Virpore, Taluka Nanded, District Broach, Gujarat State. Arjunbhai is from the Bhil tribe which tribe is to be found in a number of States of India including Gujarat and Maharashtra. The founding fathers being aware of the disabilities from which certain sections of the people suffered, took care to incorporate in the Constitution provisions designed to provide compensatory discrimination in favour of these sections. The disabled include Scheduled tribes. Groups to be recognised as such tribes have to figure in a notification which the President issued in consultation with the Governor where the specification is in relation to a State. Parliament can by law amend this notification whether by inclusion or exclusion of any group. Bar this method the Presidential notification could not be otherwise varied-not even by such a subsequent notification. Groups recognised as Scheduled tribes (Vide Article 342) get concessions in the matter of public employment and social and economic advancement. This is constitutionally protected vide Articles 15 and 16.
3. The President in exercise of his powers under Article 342(1) has issued the Constitution (Schedule Tribes) Order, 1950 hereinafter referred to as the 'Order'. This being a pre-reorganisation of States enactment, the State figuring there was Bombay. The Bhil tribe is listed in the Order as a Scheduled tribe. The territories in and around the State of Bombay went through two re-organisations. First came what is popularly known as the bilingual State of Bombay and after came the carving out of separate States of Gujarat and Maharashtra. There was no change in the position of Bhils vis-a-vis the State of bilingual Bombay though Parliament did enact Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes Orders (Amendment) Act, 1956 (1956 Act). The State was dismembered in 1960 and succeeded by Gujarat and Maharashtra. In 1961 and 1971 there took place the ten-yearly censuses. A bill of 1967 dealing with proposed amendments to the Order had been referred to a Joint Committee. Having regard to the census returns and the recommendations of the Joint Committee, the Parliament amended the Order vide Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes Orders (Amendment) Act, 1976 (1976 Act). The Bhil tribe found place as a Scheduled Tribe in the lists of Gujarat and Maharashtra both.
4. Arjunbhai migrated to Bombay city in April 1961. This he did after appearing for the March 1961 S.S.C. exam through the Rajpipla High School of Gujarat. He lived at Bombay with his brother Ishwarbhai in Dahisar till March 1982. During this period Arjunbhai qualified as Bachelor of Commerce of the Bombay University having kept terms in a Bombay College. In 1969-70 Arjunbhai worked in the Income Tax Department, the Reserve Bank of India and then back again with the former which attachment continues to this day. Petitioner Rajesh was born in 1959 at his maternal grandparents home at Rajpipla, Gujarat. This is in keeping with the traditional practice in the country whereby girls are taken to their parental homes for child birth. Rajesh has been living and staying with his parents at Bombay. After passing the March 1987 S.S.C. exam, Rajesh sought and was granted an offer for admission for a course of diploma in Engineering. This he got to one of the seats reserved for Scheduled Tribes pursuant to a certificate of entitlement produced by him.
5. In February 1987, Arjunbhai applied to the Sub-Divisional Magistrate, Bombay (Respondent 2) for a certificate showing Rajesh to be the member of a Scheduled Tribe. The application was accompanied by various documents including a certificate issued by an Additional Chief Presidency Magistrate,
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