(1.) LEAVE granted.
(2.) FOR a considerable period during the British Rule, special laws were made applicable to certain 'backward areas' in India that were predominantly occupied by tribal people. These backward regions covered an area of more than 1,20,000 square miles. However, the characteristics of these areas and their populations varied widely. By Act XIV of 1874, Santhal Parganas and Chutia Nagpur Division (now known as Chhotanagpur Division) were created and in these 'Scheduled districts', tribal communities were accorded a certain degree of autonomy to regulate their affairs on the basis of their own conventions and traditions. Many of these communities chose their leaders through an informal consensus among other customary methods for selection. When the Constitution was enacted, these areas were designated as 'Scheduled Areas'. Article 244 of the Constitution explicitly states that the provisions of the Fifth Schedule shall apply in respect of the administration and control of the Scheduled Areas in any State other than the States of Assam, Meghalaya, Tripura and Mizoram. The provisions of the Sixth Schedule guide the administration of tribal areas in those states.
(3.) IN exercise of the powers conferred by paragraph 6(i) of the Fifth Schedule to the Constitution of INdia, the President of INdia made an Order known as The Scheduled Area (Part A States) Order, 1950. With respect to the then combined State of Bihar, this Order was applied to Ranchi district, Singhbhum district (excluding Dalbhum sub-division) and Santhal Pargana district. The following table shows the chronology of the governmental measures which have identified Scheduled Areas in the territories that lie in the present-day State of Jharkhand: <FRM>JUDGEMENT_19_TLPRE0_2010Html1.htm</FRM> Hence, Tribes Advisory Councils had been constituted for these Scheduled areas since the Panchayati Raj System had not been extended to them.