Centre, Guj govt get HC notices on ST status for Rathwa-Koli community

The Gujarat High Court on Tuesday issued notice to the Centre and the state government on a PIL challenging inclusion of Rathwa-Koli community in the list of Scheduled Tribes. The PIL claimed the President had not notified the community as ST under Article 342 of the Constitution, and the state had no powers to amend a presidential order.

A division bench of Chief Justice Vikram Nath and Justice A J Shastri issued notices to the two respondents returnable on October 15. The PIL was filed by Narsinh Mahida, Kanubhai Damir, Gautam Valvai and Dinesh Katara through their lawyer Rahul Sharma.

The PIL claimed second schedule of the presidential order, of 1976, in part IV of the schedule for Gujarat, lists Rathwa community as a Scheduled Tribe, but not the Rathwa-Koli community. The 1976 presidential order was modified several times between 1987 and 2013, but the Rathwa-Koli community was not included in the schedule for ST of Gujarat, it said.

In a cabinet meeting on June 21, 1982, the Gujarat government decided to include Rathwa-Koli as an ST community, even when they were listed as OBC by both state and Union governments. After this, various departments issued circulars directing that the Rathwa-Koli community be issued ST certificates, allowing them to avail benefits meant for tribal communities, the petitioners said.

The PIL sought that these circulars be quashed and set aside since the Rathwa-Koli community does not find mention in the schedule to the presidential orders made under Article 342 of the Constitution, and therefore violates Article 14 of the Constitution.

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