PURBI BENGAL SHARNARTHI SAMITI Vs. STATE OF BIHAR

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This petition under Article 226 of the Constitution is filed in public interest by one Purbi Bengal Sharnarthi Samiti and its General Secretary Sri Niranjan Saha, resident of District-East Champaran (Motihari) for a direction to the respond-ents-the State of Bihar and the Union of India to declare the persons, who had migrated to India from the then East Pakistan in or around the year 1956 and have been rehabilitated in the districts of Bihar, as Scheduled Caste people in the State of Bihar.

(2.) According to the Petitioners, the Petitioner No. 1 is the association of the persons who had settled in the State of Bihar as refugees from the then East Pakistan and the descendants of those erstwhile settlors. It is the claim of the Petitioners that most of the refugees from the then East Pakistan belonged to the communities of Namshudra, Jalia Kaibarta, Sunri, Dawgarh, Pond, Bhimali, Mochi etc. Those communities were recognized as Scheduled Caste in the then East Pakistan. On their migration to the territories of India and settling in the State of Bihar, they should be entitled to be declard as Scheduled Caste People in the State of Bihar and should be extended the benefits available to the Scheduled Caste people in the State of Bihar.

(3.) Learned Counsel Mr. Mukherjee has appeared for the Petitioners. He has submitted that the Petitioner No. 1 is a registered society and espouses the cause of a class of people, namely, refugees from the then East Pakistan settled in the State of Bihar. He has submitted that the descendants of the erstwhile settlors, unless are classified as Scheduled Caste people, would not have the opportunity to Government employment.