LEGISLATIVE AND JUDICIAL PERSPECTIVE

THE ISSUE OF DELISTING IS BEING RAISED SINCE MANY DECADES. EVEN ATTEMPTS WERE MADE IN PARLIAMENT FOR CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENTS TO DELIVER JUSTICE TO THE TRIBAL COMMUNITY. THIS MATTER IS ALSO BEING HEARD IN VARIOUS COURTS

There is a growing demand to delist those tribals from the Schedule Tribe (ST) status, who have undergone a religious conversion and still enjoy all the rights given to STs. The tribal community itself is raising the demand. Also, protests are being organised in states like Madhya Pradesh, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, and different parts of North East. Therefore, it becomes vital to look at this matter in various courts and Parliament.

A comprehensive bill to provide for the inclusions in and exclusions from the lists of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes and corresponding readjustment of representation and redelimitation of the reserved parliamentary constituencies was introduced in the Lok Sabha on August 12, 1967. The Lok Sabha resolved to refer the Bill to a Joint Parliamentary Committee of both Houses on March 26, 1968; the Rajya Sabha concurred with the reference on March 28, 1968. The Joint Committee on the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes Orders (Amendment) Bill, 1967 was constituted under the Chairmanship of Shri Anil K Chanda; it had 22 members from the Lok Sabha and 11 members from the Rajya Sabha, besides representatives of the relevant ministries. MC Chagla was the Secretary of the Committee.

Along with its detailed recommendations about the inclusion or exclusion of different Castes or Tribes from the Schedule, the Committee in its Report stated that: