M S MALATHI KUM Vs. COMMISSIONER NAGPUR DIVISION

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Their Lordships the Honble Mr. Justice Mohta and the Honble Mr. Justice Ratnaparkhi, JJ., have referred the Writ Petition No. 5164 of 1988 (transferred from Nagpur Bench Writ Petition No. 16 of 1984) to the Full Bench for determination of the following point: "Whether the term in relation to the State in Article 341(1) of the Constitution enures to the benefit of the Schedule Caste only within territorial area of that State, or whether a declaration of Scheduled Caste under the Constitutional order enures to the benefit of Scheduled Castes for whole of the country and not restricted to the particular State". Mohta and Ratnaparkhi, JJ., were unable to agree with the view taken, by an earlier Division Bench of this Court in the case of (Wasudeo v. Union of India) 1973 Mh.L.J. 994 regarding the interpretation of the said expression "in relation to the State" in Article 341(1) of the Constitution. C.A. No. 5069 of 1988 has been heard along with the Full Bench Reference.

(2.) Kumari S. Malathi the petitioner in Writ Petition No. 16 of 1984 (renumbered as Writ Petition No. 5168 of 1988) belongs to Adi Dravida caste. The said Adi Dravida has been specified as a Scheduled Caste in Part XVI of the Scheduled (which relates to Tamil Nadu) to the Constitution (Scheduled Castes) Order, 1950 made by the President in exercise of his powers under Article 341(1) of the Constitution and as amended under Article 341(2) from time to time by the Parliament of India. The said caste Adi Dravida has not been however included in Part X of the Scheduled to the said Constitution (Scheduled Castes) Order of 1950 which has specified the Scheduled Castes in relation to Maharashtra.

(3.) At the material time the father of the petitioner Kumari S. Malathi was employed in the Indian Bureau of Mines, Government of India at Nagpur. Claiming to belong to Scheduled Caste she had applied for admission to Bachelor of Dental Medicine and Surgery course 1983-84 in the Government Dental College and Hospital at Nagpur against a seat reserved for Scheduled Caste students. She was given provisional admission to the said course subject to the verification of her caste. The authorities for caste verification, had however refused to grant the writ petitioner a certificate to the effect that she was Scheduled Caste in the State of Maharashtra because in the Constitution (Scheduled Castes) Order, 1950 her caste Adi Dravida was not specified as a Scheduled Caste in relation to Maharashtra State. Only because her caste Adi Dravida was specified as a Scheduled Caste in relation to Tamil Nadu did not entitle to her to claim she was a Scheduled Caste also in Maharashtra.