- By Imran Zafar
- Mon, 12 Aug 2024 09:29 PM (IST)
- Source:JND
The Bihar government removed the Tanti-Tantwa caste from the list of Scheduled Castes and reinstated it in the list of Extremely Backward Classes (EBCs), following a Supreme Court order. The caste has now been placed at number 33 in the Schedule-1 list of EBCs, effective immediately, according to a gazette notification issued by the General Administration Department.
People belonging to the Tanti-Tantwa caste who have secured government jobs will retain their positions, with their quota status transferred from Scheduled Castes (SCs) to Extremely Backward Castes (EBCs). The concerned appointing authorities have been tasked with creating posts in relevant departments to facilitate this transition.
In response to the changes, the state government will also launch a special recruitment campaign to address the vacancies in the Scheduled Caste quota, classifying these positions as backlog for the time being. Additionally, measures will be taken to create extra posts to preserve the promotions of personnel who were initially employed under the SC quota.
The Supreme Court quashed the 2015 Bihar government notification categorising Tanti-Tantwa community as Schedule Caste on July 15 in response to petitions filed in the case of Dr Bhimrao Ambedkar Vichar Manch, Bihar vs. State Government and Ashish Rajak vs. State Government, along with other challenges to the inclusion of Tanti-Tantwa in the Scheduled Castes.
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The apex court declared that except by a law made by Parliament, the state or central government has no authority or power to tinker with the lists of Scheduled Castes published under Article 341 of the Constitution. A similar decision was previously made regarding the Lohar caste, which was also excluded from the Scheduled Castes list by the Supreme Court.