1. This writ petition on behalf of the sole petitioner has been filed seeking direction upon the respondents to accept his joining on the post of Assistant Teacher in a primary school in the district of East Champaran on the basis of the caste certificate of the Sub-divisional Officer, Motihari dated 16.3.2000. In the said certificate the petitioner has been described as scheduled tribe being member of the Gond community.

2. The petitioner applied for the post of primary school teacher pursuant to advertisement published by the Bihar Public Service Commission in or about 1999. Along with the application he submitted the aforesaid caste certificate granted by the Sub-divisional Officer, Sadar Motihari. The petitioner qualified at the tests and his name was thus included in the list of the successful candidates in the scheduled tribe (03) category. However, the authorities are insisting on production of the caste certificate by the District Magistrate and it is on this ground that he is not being appointed. The petitioner contends that under the Rules of Procedure the candidate is required to produce the caste certificate issued either by the District Magistrate or the Sub-divisional Officer and as in the instant case he has obtained and produced the caste certificate by the Sub-divisional Officer, he is not required to produce another certificate by the District Magistrate.

3. Normally I would have accepted the contention of the petitioner and directed the respondents to accept the caste certificate issued by the Sub-divisional Officer, Sadar Motihari as proof of caste status of the petitioner but there appears to be some confusion in the mind of the authorities and therefore, it seems appropriate to direct the District Magistrate, East Champaran to make an enquiry in respect of the petitioners caste status and then issue the certificate, if necessary.

4. Clause (25) of Article 366 of the Constitution of India defines schedule tribe to mean "such tribes or tribal communities or parts or of groups within such tribes or tribal communities as are deemed under Article 342 to be scheduled tribes for the purposes of this Constitution". Article 342(1) empowers the President to specify the tribes and tribal communities or parts of a groups within the tribes and tribal communities which would be deemed to be scheduled tribes in relation to particular State after consultation of the Governor of the State.

5. Under Sub-Clause (2) the Parliament may by law include in or exclude from the list of scheduled tribes specified in the notification issued under clause (1). The law is settled on the point that the Presidential Order under Article 342 is conclusive of any dispute as to whether particular tribe or tribal community or part or group within such tribe or tribal community is to be treated as a scheduled tribe for the purpose of Constitution. No authority except the Parliament can do so. Not even the State Government or any court can do it.

6. A dispute arose in the State of Bihar as to whether Loharsare scheduled tribes. Such dispute had arisen on account of an apparent phonetic semblance with Lohara/Lohra which have been specified as scheduled tribes in the list issued by the President under Article 342 of the Constitution. The dispute was finally set at rest by the Supreme Court in the case of Nityanand Sharma V/s. State of Bihar, (1996) 3 SCC 576 : 1996(2) PLJR (SC) 37. Relying on earlier decisions on the point the Court explained that tribes are identifiable by their genetic traits passing on from generation to generation, their customs, social practices etc. Merely on the ground of any caste or tribe being synonym of another caste/tribe specified in the List, it cannot be treated as scheduled tribe or scheduled caste as the case may be.

7. As regards the community Gond, it undoubtedly finds place in the List of scheduled tribes issued by the President of India for the State of Bihar in terms of Article 342 of the Constitutio