Supreme Court held that state or central government have no power to change the lists of Scheduled Castes

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Extracts from Supreme Court Judgement:

Article 341 confers power on the President of India to specify the castes, races or tribes or parts of or groups within castes, races or tribes which, for the purpose of the Constitution, be deemed to be Scheduled Castes in relation to that State or Union Territory. Further, sub-Clause 2 of Article 341 provides that the Parliament may, by law, include or exclude from the list of Scheduled Castes specified in a Notification issued under Clause-1 any caste, race or tribe or part of or group within any caste, race or tribe. It further creates a prohibition that, save as aforesaid, a Notification issued under Clause-1 shall not be varied by any subsequent Notification. Article 341 of the Constitution reads as follows: 

“Article 341. (1) The President may with respect to any State or Union territory, and where it is a State, after consultation with the Governor thereof, by public notification, specify the castes, races or tribes or parts of or groups within castes, races or tribes which shall for the purposes of this Constitution be deemed to be Scheduled Castes in relation to that State or Union territory, as the case may be. 

(2) Parliament may by law include in or exclude from the list of Scheduled Castes specified in a notification issued under clause (1) any caste, race or tribe or part of or group within any caste, race or tribe, but save as aforesaid a notification issued under the said clause shall not be varied by any subsequent notification.” 

12. From a plain reading of the above Article and in particular sub-Clause 2, two things are clear – first, the list specified under the Notification under Clause-1 can be amended, altered only by law made by Parliament and, second, it prohibits that but for a law made by Parliament a notification issued under sub-Clause-1 cannot be varied by any subsequent notification. That is to say that neither the Central Government, nor the President can make any amendments or changes in the notification issued under Clause-1 specifying the castes in relation to the States or Union territory, as the case may be.

13. Another aspect to be noted from a plain reading of the above Article is that, it does not deal with merely castes, races or tribes but also parts of or groups within castes, races or tribes, therefore, if any change is to be made with respect to inclusion or exclusion not only of any caste, race or tribe but also of a part of or group within any of the caste, race or tribe the same has to be done by law made by the Parliament.


The criteria and procedure followed for inclusion of a community/ caste in the list of Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and Other Backward Classes:

The criteria and procedure followed for inclusion of a community/ caste in the list of Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and Other Backward Classes are as Under:-

(i) Criteria

Scheduled Castes(SCs):-

Extreme social, educational and economic backwardness arising out of traditional practice of untouchability.

Scheduled Tribes(STs):-

Indication of primitive traits, distinctive culture, geographical isolation, shyness of contact with community at large and backwardness.

Other Backward Classes (OBCs):-

Social, educational, economic backwardness and inadequate representation in the Central Government posts and services.

(iii) Procedure:-

SCs and STs are specified under the provisions of Articles 341 & 342 of the Constitution of India respectively. Further, Government has laid down Modalities in June, 1999, as amended in June,  2002 for processing of modifications in the lists of SCs and STs. The Modalities envisage that only such proposals of the concerned State Governments/ Union Territory Administrations, which have been agreed to by the Registrar General of India (RGI) and National Commission for Scheduled Castes (NCSC), in the case of SCs, and RGI & National Commission for Scheduled Tribes (NCST) in the case of STs, are further processed in accordance with provisions of clause (2) of Articles 341 and 342 respectively. Inclusion of communities/ castes in the Central List of OBCs is done on the advice of National Commission for Backward Classes (NCBC) as envisaged in Section (9) of NCBC Act, 1993.

  1. https://pib.gov.in/newsite/PrintRelease.aspx?relid=115783
  2. Special Provisions of the CONSTITUTION OF INDIA for SC, ST and OBC


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