The Allahabad High Court has asked the Uttar Pradesh government to decide within two months on a representation seeking the inclusion of the Bhar/Rajbhar community in the list of Scheduled Tribes.
Till now, they are treated as OBC in the state.
A two-judge bench of Justices Siddhartha Varma and Dinesh Pathak gave the order on a writ petition filed by the Jago Rajbhar Jago Samiti and another on March 11.
The petitioners had contended that keeping in view the past records, the Bhar/Rajbhar community should be treated as a Scheduled Tribe but the state government has given them the status of OBC.
According to the petitioners, they had applied through a sitting MLA for the inclusion of the community in the list of the Scheduled Tribes.
The matter had reached the Union government, which had written on October 11, 2021, to the principal secretary of social welfare department of Uttar Pradesh government that it could not process the matter unless the proposal for inclusion is processed by the state government.
After hearing all sides, the court noted that nowhere from the record it transpired that the petitioners had approached the appropriate authority of the state government.
