Classifications in Presidential notifications are state-specific and based on the socio-economic conditions of communities in the respective states, and a person migrating to another state does not carry the Scheduled Caste (SC) or Scheduled Tribe (ST) status enjoyed in the state of origin, the Orissa High Court has said.
“The Presidential notification containing the lists of Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe communities is prepared looking at the socio- economic development of the particular caste/tribe vis-à- vis the State. The same socio-economic conditions may not exist in another State,” HC judge Sashikanta Mishra ruled while quashing a letter issued by the district registrar-cum-additional district magistrate (ADM) of Mayurbhanj, which had asked petitioner Binoy Krishna Das, to obtain prior permission from the competent authority to sell his land in the district. Challenging the decision in the high court, Das argued that his SC status in Jharkhand could not be converted into ST status in Odisha and that the restrictions governing the transfer of tribal land were therefore inapplicable to him.
The court further observed that since Bhuiya was not notified as an SC in Odisha, Das could not claim SC status in the state. Because the caste was included in Odisha’s list of Scheduled Tribes, at the same time, he could not automatically be treated as an ST merely.
A person migrating from one state to another does not carry the SC or ST status recognised in the state of origin, the judge said.
