Only tribes or tribal communities or parts of or groups within tribes or tribal communities can be declared as Scheduled Tribes in relation to the State or the Union territory, as the case may be.

S. B. Sinha, J.

1. Whether the petitioners who are lohar by caste are members of the Scheduled Tribe is the question involved in this writ application.

2. Shortly put the fact of the matter reads thus : pursuant to an advertisement, the petitioners applied for taking admission in the Medical College. According to the petitioners they are lobar by caste and, thus, are members ot Scheduled Tribes in view of the notification issued by the President of India in the year 1976 and the information book issued by the Bihar Public Service Commission a copy whereof is contained in Annexure-4 to the writ application ; from a perusal thereof it would appear that in item No.20 shows that lohar has been mentioned as one of the Scheduled Tribes for the entire State of Bihar the petitioners have also annexed a caste certificate dated 10-10-1991 granted by the Sub-Divisional Officer, Muzaffarpur, to the effect that they are lohar by case which is contained in Annexure-5 to the writ application.

3. Admittedly, the petitioners were declared successful in the written entrance test held for admission in the Medical College and in the merit list the name of petitioner No.1 is at serial No.12. and that of petitioner no, 2 at serial No.46. They, however, were denied admission on the ground that they are not members of Scheduled Tribe.

4. The petitioners in support of their claim that lohars are members of Scheduled Tribe have relied upon a judgment of this Court in c. W. J. C. No.1034 of 1991 (Hari Sharon V/s. The State of Bihar) which is contained in Annexure-7 to the writ application, a judgment of Supreme court of India dated 21-9-1992 passed in S. L. P. No.8429 of 1992 as also the judgment dated 12-9-1990 of the Supreme Court of India passed in

5. The State, on the other hand, has contended that in terms of constitution Scheduled Tribes Order, 1950, lohars are not members of scheduled Tribe, but only lohars or loharas are.

6. In the counter-affidavit filed on behalf of the State it has been contended : -

"that lohara, lohra which is listed as a Scheduled Tribe in bihar appear to have definite tribal origin. H. H. Risley in his book "tribes and Castes" of 1981 reprint mentions lohara as a sect of Mundas in Chotanagpur and lohra as a synonym for Asura and lohar. It may be noted that both Mundas and Asura are notified as Scheduled Tribes in Bihar. Apparently, only those loharas who owe origin to Asur and Munda seem to have been notified as Scheduled Tribes in Bihar. It is thus evident that Lohar is a distinct occupational group and cant be treated as identical rand community to Lohara, Lohra. "

"that the aforesaid facts are further evident from perusal of English version of order of Bihar and West Bengal and Hindi version of the said order, while in Hindi version of order for west Bengal Lohara, Lohar is given as equivalent of Lohara, lohra, in Bihar Lohar is apparently a mistake for Lohara. "

"that thus it is manifest that petitioner being Lohar does not belong to Scheduled Tribes and is thus not entitled to any benefit of a Scheduled Tribe. "

7 Article 341 of Constitution of India empowers the President of india to specify the castes, races or tribes or parts of or groups within castes, races or tribes by public notification who shall for the purposes of constitution be deemed to be Scheduled Castes in relation to that State or Union Territory, as the case may be.

8. Article 342 of the Constitution of India reads as follows :

"the President may with respect to any State of Union Territory, and where it is a State, after consultation with the Governor thereof by public Notification, specify the tribes or tribal communities or parts of or groups within tribes or tribal communities who shall for the purposes of this Constitution be deemed to be Scheduled Tribes in relation to that State or Union Territory as the case may be. "

"parliament may by law include in or exclude from the list of Scheduled tribes specified in a notification issued und