Constitution of India – Art.341 – Scheduled Castes list – Merging of caste “Tanti” with the caste ‘Pan/Sawasi’ in the list of Scheduled Castes – Entitlement of employee’s claim to the benefit of Scheduled Caste category – Appointment of the respondent-employee under the Other Backward Classes category on the basis of ‘Tanti’ caste certificate – State Government vide notification deleted ‘Tanti’ caste from the list of OBCs and merged it with ‘Pan/Swasi’ caste in the list of Scheduled Castes – Respondent obtained Scheduled Caste Certificate as a member of ‘Pan/Swasi’ caste and necessary changes made in the Service Record – Meanwhile, the respondent applied for promotion as a Scheduled Caste candidate, however, his name not approved since he was held not entitled to claim benefit of Scheduled Caste category – Tribunal dismissed the respondent’s application, however, the High Court allowed the writ petition – Correctness: Held: During pendency of this appeal, the same issue was decided by this Court in Dr. Bhim Rao Ambedkar’s case holding that the exercise of taking out ‘Tanti’ from Extremely Backward Classes list issued and its merger with the Scheduled Caste list is bad, illegal and unsustainable – In view thereof, the respondent cannot claim the benefits of the Scheduled Caste category – After the decision of this Court in the case of Dr. Bhim Rao Ambedkar, the issue as regards the claim of reservation as Scheduled Caste candidate does not subsist – Furthermore, the earlier decisions stand on different footing wherein long standing appointments continued over a period of time, because of which court felt, on equitable considerations, not to disturb their employment – On facts, the respondent was appointed to said promotional post in December 2023 – Benefit of his illegal categorisation as a Scheduled Caste candidate, accrued to him was for a short period of less than a year and that too during the pendency of the said appeal – No equities in favour of the respondent like that of the candidates in earlier cases – Order cannot be passed directing continuation of the respondent on the basis of the illegal certification as Scheduled Caste – Judgment of the High Court set aside and that of the tribunal restored. [Paras 8, 9, 12, 13, 15, 16]
As published in the Supreme Court Reports, Supreme Court of India. Headnotes prepared by: Nidhi Jain. Text from the Indian Supreme Court Judgments open data set (Dattam Labs), CC BY 4.0.
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