HC stays UP govt notification including 17 OBC castes into SC list

The Allahabad High Court on Monday stayed a notification of the Uttar Pradesh government to include 17 Other Backward Castes in the Scheduled Castes list.

The court directed the state government to file its reply on it within three weeks and said the case would be listed thereafter.

The bench comprising Justice Sudhir Agarwal and Justice Rajiv Mishra passed the order on a petition filed by one Gorakhnath.

The petition stated that the Constitution empowered the Centre to make such amendments and include a particular community in the Scheduled Caste list.

Hence, such a decision by the state government was in violation of Article 341 of the Constitution as it cannot initiate the process of inclusion of a caste in the list on its own, it said.

According to petitioner, the state government had issued a government order in June to include 17 communities of the OBC category into the SC list.

Kahar, Kashyap, Kewat, Nishad, Bind, Bhar, Prajapati, Rajbhar, Batham, Gaur, Tura, Majhi, Mallah, Kumhar, Dheemar and Machua sub-castes were among the 17 OBC castes.