Jolt to Yogi as Allahabad HC stays inclusion of 17 OBC castes in SC list

In a setback to Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath led BJP government in the state, the Allahabad High Court on Monday stayed the decision to include 17 Other Backward Castes (OBCs) in the Scheduled Castes (SC) list.

Hearing on a writ petition filed by social worker Gorakh Prasad, a division bench of Justice Sudhir Agarwal and Rajeev Mishra observed that the state government was not within its rights to take the decision.

Only Parliament can take the decision to include castes into SC/ST list, the court observed, adding that the state and the Centre are not empowered to take such a decision.

The bench also asked the Principal Secretary of the Social Welfare Department to submit a personal affidavit in the court.

On June 24, Uttar Pradesh government had added 17 castes including Kashyap, Mallah, Kumhar, Rajbhar, Prajapati, and others in the list of Scheduled Castes and directed the district authorities to issue the caste certificate to the families of belonging to these castes.