Empowered by Clause (1) of Article 342, the President may, with respect to any State or Union Territory, and where it is a State, after consultation with the governor thereof, notify tribes or tribal communities or parts of these as Scheduled Tribes. This confers on the tribe or part of it a Constitutional status for availing themselves of the rights and safeguards provided for the Scheduled Tribes in the Constitution, in their respective State/UT.
Clause (2) of the Article empowers the Parliament to pass a law to include in or exclude from the list of Scheduled Tribes, any tribe or tribal community or parts of these.
Criteria for specification of a community as a Scheduled Tribe:
The criteria followed for specification of a community as a Scheduled Tribe are:
Indication of primitive traits,
Distinctive culture,
Geographical isolation,
Shyness of contact with the community at large, and
Backwardness.
This criterion is not spelt out in the Constitution but has become well established. It takes into account the definitions in the 1931 Census, the reports of the first Backward Classes Commission (Kalelkar) 1955, the Advisory Committee on Revision of SC/ST lists (Lokur Committee) 1965 and the Joint Committee of Parliament on the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes Order (Amendment) Bill, 1967 (Chanda Committee) 1969.
Procedure for inclusion in or exclusion from the list of Scheduled Tribes
In June 1999, the Government approved modalities for deciding claims for inclusion in or exclusion from the lists of Scheduled Tribes. According to these approved guidelines, only those claims that have been agreed to by the concerned State Government, the Registrar General of India and the National Commission for Scheduled Castes & Scheduled Tribes will be taken up for consideration.
Whenever representations are received in the Ministry of Tribal Affairs for inclusion of any community in the list of Scheduled Tribes of a State/UT, the Ministry forwards that representation to the concerned State Government/U.T. Administration for recommendation as required under Article 342 of the Constitution. If the concerned State Government recommends the proposal, then the same is sent to the Registrar General of India (RGI). The RGI, if satisfied with the recommendation of the State Government, recommends the proposal to the Central Government. Thereafter, the Ministry of Tribal Affairs refers the proposal to the National Commission for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes for their recommendation. If the National Commission for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes also recommends the case, the matter is processed for the decision of the Cabinet after consulting the concerned administrative Ministries. Thereafter the matter is put up before Parliament in the form of a Bill to amend the Presidential Order.
In case there is disagreement between the views of the State Government and the RGI, the views of the RGI are sent to the State Government for reviewing or further justifying their recommendation. On receipt of the further clarification from the State Government/ Union Territory Administration, the proposal is again referred to the RGI for comments. In such cases, where the RGI does not agree to the point of view of the State Government/ UT Administration, Government of India may reject the said proposal.
Claims that neither the RGI nor the concerned State Government have supported are rejected. Similarly, those cases where the State Government and the RGI favour inclusion /exclusion, but not supported by the National Commission for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes are also rejected.
Authorities Competent to Issue Scheduled Tribe certificates:
The candidates belonging to Scheduled Tribes may get Scheduled Tribe certificates, in the prescribed form, from any one of the following authorities:
District Magistrate/Additional District Magistrate/ Collector/ Deputy Commissioner/ Additional Deputy Commissioner/Deputy Collector/ Ist Class Stipendiary Magistrate/ City Magistrate/ Sub Divisional Magistrate/ Taluka Magistrate/Executive Magistrate/ Extra Assistant Commissioner. [not below the rank of Ist Class Stipendiary Magistrate]
Chief Presidency Magistrate/Additional Chief Presidency Magistrate/ Presidency Magistrate
Revenue Officers not below the rank of Tehsildar
Sub- Divisional Officer of the Area where the candidate and/ or his family normally resides.
Administrator/ Secretary to the Administrator/ Development Officer [Lakshadweep Islands]
Points to be observed while issuing/ verifying Scheduled Tribe certificates:
General: Various points and issues are required to be considered before issuing a caste certificate to an applicant. The nodal Ministry dealing with the policy issue relating to the subject matter relating to inclusion into and exclusion from the list of SCs/STs has been with the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment. These points and issues are given in detail on the website of the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment (http://www.socialjustice.nic.in). However, some important issues are highlighted in this Handbook for ready reference.
Where a person claims to belong to a Scheduled Tribes by birth it should be verified that: -
The person and his/her parents actually belong to the community claimed.
The community is included in the Presidential Order specifying the Scheduled Tribes in relation to the concerned State.
The person belongs to that State and to the area within that State in respect of which the community has been scheduled.
He/she may profess any religion.
He/she or his/her parents/grandparents etc., should be permanent resident of the State/UT on the date of notification of the Presidential Order applicable in his/her case.
A person who is temporarily away from his permanent place of residence at the time of the notification of the Presidential Order applicable in his case, say for example to earn a living or seek education, etc. can also be regarded as a Scheduled Tribe, if his tribe has been specified in that Order in relation to his State/Union Territory. But he/she cannot be treated as such in relation to the place of his temporary residence notwithstanding the fact that the name of his/her tribe has been scheduled in respect of that State where he/she is temporarily settled, in any Presidential Order.
In the case of persons born after the date of notification of the relevant Presidential Order, the place of residence for the purpose of acquiring Scheduled Tribe status, is the place of permanent abode of their parents at the time of the notification of the Presidential Order under which they claim to belong to such a tribe.
Scheduled Tribe claims on migration:
Where a person migrates from the portion of the State in respect of which his community is scheduled to another part of the same State in respect of which community is not scheduled, he will continue to be deemed to be a member of the Scheduled Tribe, in relation to that State.
Where a person migrates from one State to another, he can claim to belong to a Scheduled Tribe only in relation to the State to which he originally belonged and not in respect of the State to which he has migrated.
Scheduled Tribe claims after marriage and status of their children:
The guiding principle is that no person who was not a Scheduled Tribe by birth will be deemed to be a member of Scheduled Tribe merely because he or she has married a person belonging to a Scheduled