Blitz Bureau
The Supreme Court has held that states have no right to modify the list of Scheduled Castes (SCs) — a power vested exclusively in Parliament, as any wrongful inclusion in the SC list deprives genuine SC members of their legitimate benefits. Striking down a 2015 Bihar Government resolution, the apex court on July 15 invalidated the merger of “Tanti-Tantwa” from the extremely backward classes (EBC) list with “Pan, Sawasi, Panr” in the SC list, deeming it a mala fide exercise.
The Bench, comprising Justices Vikram Nath and Prashant Kumar Mishra, said that the state government lacked the authority to alter the SC list under Article 341 of the Constitution. “We have no hesitation in holding that the Resolution dated 01.07.2015 was patently illegal, erroneous as the State Government had no competence/ authorment to tinker with the lists of Scheduled Castes published under Article 341 of the Constitution,” it said.
The Bihar Government notification merging “Tanti-Tantwa” with “Pan, Sawasi, Panr” for SC benefits was challenged and upheld by the high court. Several petitioners moved the Supreme Court. The petitioners argued that the state lacked the authority to alter the SC list, which can only be amended by Parliament.
The court affirmed this, stating that any changes to the SC list must be enacted by Parliament. The court found Bihar’s action to extend SC benefits to “Tanti-Tantwa” as a serious constitutional violation, emphasising that such actions deprive genuine SC members of their benefits.
