The petitioners before the Court have argued that Pahari-speaking people cannot be included as Scheduled Tribes merely on linguistic basis.
They contended that the parliament included the ‘Pahari Ethnic Group’, ‘Pahari Tribe’, ‘Kohli’ and ‘Gadda Brahmin’ communities in the list of Schedule Tribes (STs) without any reasonable justification or empirical data.
They have also challenged a statutory order issued by the Jammu and Kashmir administration, by which 10 per cent reservation was given to already recognised Scheduled Tribes in Jammu and Kashmir while giving an additional 10 per cent reservation to the four newly added tribes.
The petitioners pointed out that the newly added groups were upper-caste communities from regions like Poonch and Rajouri. Their inclusion in the ST list meant that the existing 12 ST groups could no longer file cases under the Scheduled Caste/ Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities) Act for discrimination faced from members of these upper-caste communities, the petitioners argued.
This loss of legal protection further exposes members of the existing tribes to potential injustices and discrimination, the plea added.
Further, none of the newly added communities possess tribal characteristics or face social inequality and or economic disparity, the petitioners contended.
Source: Barandbench
