Which community was categorized as Scheduled Caste (SC) by a 2015 Bihar government notification which was quashed in July 2024 by the Supreme Court, ruling that states cannot make changes to the SC list published under Article 341 of the Constitution ?
Tanti-Tantwa
The community was Tanti-Tantwa — option 2.
What happened. In 2015 the Bihar government issued a resolution merging the Tanti-Tantwa community, which was listed among the Extremely Backward Classes, into the Scheduled Caste category by treating it as a synonym of the listed caste “Pan / Sawasi”. In July 2024 the Supreme Court struck the notification down, holding that a state has no power whatever to add to, subtract from or otherwise alter the list of Scheduled Castes.
The constitutional principle. Under Article 341, the President specifies by public notification the castes deemed to be Scheduled Castes in relation to a state, after consulting the Governor. Clause (2) then provides that only Parliament, by law, may include a caste in or exclude one from that list, and that no subsequent notification may vary it. Article 342 makes identical provision for Scheduled Tribes. The purpose is to keep the lists out of the reach of shifting state-level political pressure.
| Point | Detail |
|---|---|
| Community | Tanti-Tantwa, traditionally weavers |
| State action | 2015 resolution merging them into the SC category |
| Court’s ruling | July 2024 — the notification is quashed as beyond the state’s power |
| Governing article | Article 341; only Parliament may alter the list |
The consequence for those affected. The Court directed that appointments already made under the wrongly conferred status in the intervening years need not be disturbed, but ordered that the community be restored to the Extremely Backward Classes list, so that its members would receive the benefits due to that category.
Why the point is important. Every few years a state seeks to reclassify a community for electoral reasons, and this judgment restates a settled position: the Presidential list is final until Parliament changes it.
Hence, the answer is Tanti-Tantwa.
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