The inclusion of communities in the list of Scheduled Tribes is subject to specific modalities and can only be amended by Parliament.

THE HON’BLE CHIEF JUSTICE & T.S.SIVAGNANAM, J.

In this writ petition, the petitioner has prayed for the issue of a Writ of Certiorarified Mandamus for quashing the order bearing F.No.12016/6/2001-TA (ME)/C & LM-I (Part.II) dated 8th April, 2009 issued by the first respondent namely, the Secretary, Ministry of Tribal Affairs, Union of India and further directing respondents 1 to 3 to reconsider the proposal of the fourth respondent declaring Kuruma, Kurumba, Kurumba Gounder, Kurumban and Kurumbar as member of the Scheduled Tribes.

2. It appears that by letter dated 21st August, 2006 addressed to the first respondent, the fourth respondent i.e., Government of Tamil Nadu requested the first respondent to include the aforesaid six names as synonyms of Kurumans in the list of Scheduled Tribes in Tamil Nadu. The petitioners’ case is that as per the study conducted by the The Study of Director, Tribal Research Centre, Ooty, it reveals that communities like Kuruma, Kurumba, Kurumba Gounder, Kurumban and Kurumbar are identical to each other and these names are synonyms to the community of Kurumans and therefore, these communities may be brought under Kurumans in the list of Scheduled Tribes.

3. The first respondent in their counter affidavit has stated that on 15th June, 1999, the Government of India has laid down certain modalities for determining the claims for inclusion in, exclusion from and other modifications in orders specifying Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes lists. The said modalities have been revised on 25th June, 2002. According to this respondent, only those proposals, which have been recommended and justified, by the concerned State Government, the Registrar General of India (RGI) and the National Commission for Scheduled Tribes (NCST) are to be considered for amendment of legislation. The proposal of the fourth respondent has been rejected by the Ministry of Tribal Affairs for inclusion of Kuruma, Kurumba, Kurumba Gounder, Kurumban and Kurumbar as synonyms of Kurumans in the list of Scheduled Tribes of Tamil Nadu under para (f) of the amended modalities. It is further stated that the aforesaid proposal for inclusion of Kuruma, Kurumba, Kurumba Gounder, Kurumban and Kurumbar as synonyms of Kurumans ST of Tamil Nadu has again been rejected by the Ministry of Tribal Affairs vide letter dated 8th April, 2009.

4. We have heard the learned counsel for the parties.

5. As noticed above, the request of the fourth respondent for declaring the aforementioned 6 names as synonyms of Kurumans has already been rejected twice by the first respondent on the basis of the report of the competent authority.

6. The question, therefore, that falls for consideration is as to whether this Court in exercise of power under Article 226 of the Constitution of India can issue such a direction again to consider and/or to declare Kuruma, Kurumba, Kurumba Gounder, Kurumban and Kurumbar as synonyms of Kurumans.

7. A similar matter came up for consideration before the Supreme Court in the case of Nityanand Sharma v. State of Bihar reported in AIR 1996 SC 2306. In the aforesaid case the contention of the appellant was that the Lohar community was included in the schedule under the Act, as reflected in the Hindi version of the order, and thereby they are entitled to be recognized as Scheduled Tribes. Answering the said contention, their Lordships held as under: -(paras 7 &8, page 2308) “7. In view of the respective contentions, the question that arises for consideration is: Whether the Court can give declaration of the social status as a Tribe or declare Lohars as Scheduled Tribe in the Act and the Schedule of the Act? Clause (24) of Article 366 defines “Scheduled Castes” and clause (25) of Article 366 defines “Scheduled Tribes”. The latter means “such tribes or tribal communities or parts of or groups within such tribes or tribal communities as are deemed under Article 342 to be Scheduled Tribes for the purposes of this Constitution”. (em