Ritika Singh Sisodiya/TNNLucknow: A Lucknow bench of Allahabad high court on Monday dismissed a plea seeking inclusion of Nishad, Kevat, Mallah and Bind communities in the Scheduled Castes list or a declaration that they are synonymous with the SC community “Majhwar”.A vacation of Justice Alok Mathur and Justice Amitabh Kumar Rai held that the authority to include any caste in the SC list rests exclusively with Parliament and cannot be exercised through a judicial order.The bench observed that Kahar, ‘Kashyap, Mallah, Nishad and Bind castes are recognized in UP as OBCs and cannot be included in the Constitution (Scheduled Castes) along with the caste Majhwar by deeming them to be sub-castes, synonyms, or generics of the caste Majhwar except by a law made by Parliament.The order was passed on a petition filed by Chandrashekhar Nishad. The plea had sought inclusion of the Mallah communities in the Scheduled Castes list and extension of benefits available to SCs.The state govt opposed the plea saying that the power to declare any community as a Scheduled Caste lies solely with Parliament and cannot be exercised by the courts.Relying on apex court verdicts, the bench , in its verdict, observed that once the President has notified a list of Scheduled Castes under the Constitution, no court can add to, subtract from, or expand that list by treating another caste as a synonym, sub-caste or equivalent of a notified caste.
