VINAY PRAKASH Vs. STATE OF BIHAR

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This is the fourth attempt made by the Lohar community to get into the status of Lohara. Lohars are, admittedly, blacksmiths, a backward community in the State of Bihar. Loharas are Scheduled Tribes in the State of Bihar.

(2.) This special leave petition arises from the judgment and order of the Patna High court, made on 10/10/1996 in LPA No. 831 of 1996. The President of India, in exercise of the power under Article 342 (1 of the Constitution read with Article 366 (25, notified the Scheduled Tribes for the State of Bihar thus:

(3.) Later, the matter was considered in extenso in Nityanand Sharma v. State of Bihar wherein, considering the entire history of the Lohars andloharas, this court has held in paras 10, 11 and 12 that Lohars being backward class, they cannot claim the status as Lohara, which is a Scheduled Tribe and, therefore, the entitlement on that basis is unconstitutional and it was a retrograde step to get into the status of Scheduled Tribes to snatch the benefits made for the Scheduled Tribes. It was further held that all those judgments in which the High court had taken contra view are not good law, Consequently, they filed yet another writ petition in the High court claiming, on the basis of the orders issued by competent authorities, the status of Lohara. In the impugned order, the Division bench has held that in the light of the law laid by this court in Nityanand Sharma case, it was not open to the High court to go into that question and accordingly it dismissed the writ petition. The LPA filed in that behalf also came to be dismissed. Thus, this special leave petition.