The petitioners claimed that the community was listed as ‘Dhangar’ community instead of as ‘Dhangad’ community because of a typographical error and that resulted in the exclusion of the community from the ST category.
The petitions also sought an inquiry into their claim that the ‘Dhangad’ tribe was non-existent in Maharashtra and there were only ‘Dhangars’. They claimed that with respect to Maharashtra, the entry ‘Dhangad’ in the Presidential Order (PO) of 1950 and the subsequent amendment of 1956 was meant to apply to the ‘Dhangar’ community.
However, a division bench of Justices GS Patel and Kamal Khata observed in its order that the petitioners failed to establish that the ‘Dhangad’ community did not exist in the former state of Bombay (reorganised as Maharashtra) when the PO was issued.
Source: Barandbench
