Existing Reservation Benefits Continue For Life Even If Caste Is Later Excluded From SC List: Gujarat High Court

The Gujarat High Court has held that persons who were born into a caste when it was recognised as a Scheduled Caste would continue to enjoy the benefits already accrued throughout their lifetime, even if Parliament subsequently excludes that caste from the SC list or modifies its status.

A division bench of Justice N.S. Sanjay Gowda and Justice J.L. Odedra ruled that exclusion of a caste from the list of Scheduled Castes can operate only prospectively and cannot divest vested constitutional rights already acquired by individuals.

"The exclusion of a caste from the list of scheduled castes can only be prospective and the benefits that had accrued on a person who had been born into the caste when it was included in the list of scheduled castes would continue to adhere to him during his life time. This is fundamentally because caste is acquired by birth and comes to an end only on the death of the person" the Bench held

Court was dealing with a petition filed by the Employees' Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) challenging an order of the Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT), which had restored the promotion of an employee belonging to the ‘Mochi’ community.

The respondent had secured appointment in the EPFO in 1995 under the Scheduled Caste category when the ‘Mochi’ caste was recognised as a Scheduled Caste throughout Gujarat pursuant to the Constitution (Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes Orders (Amendment) Act, 1976.

He was promoted in 2003. However, after Parliament, through the Constitution (Scheduled Castes) Orders (Second Amendment) Act, 2002, reintroduced geographical restrictions and confined SC status for Mochis only to Dangs district and Umbergaon taluka of Valsad district, the EPFO reverted the petitioner to his substantive post in 2012 on the ground that he no longer belonged to a Scheduled Caste.

Rejecting the employer's contention, the high court undertook an extensive examination of the constitutional scheme governing Scheduled Castes under Articles 15, 16, 17, 46, 335, 338 and 341 of the Constitution of India, as well as the legislative history of the Presidential Orders relating to the 'Mochi' caste in Gujarat.

The bench observed that caste is acquired by birth and is an involuntary and permanent identity that remains with a person throughout life.

Therefore, it said, if a person is born into a caste that was specified as a Scheduled Caste at the relevant time, the constitutional benefits flowing from that status cannot be withdrawn midway merely because Parliament subsequently excludes that caste from the Scheduled Castes list.

Court further held that a person born into a caste when it was recognised as a Scheduled Caste acquires a vested constitutional right to reservation benefits.

Likewise, persons belonging to a caste at the time it is included in the Scheduled Castes list also acquire a vested right to be treated as members of a Scheduled Caste.

Such a vested constitutional right, court said, cannot subsequently be divested by Parliamentary legislation.

The bench reasoned that adopting a contrary interpretation would mean that a person, after being promised constitutional protection and affirmative action, would suddenly lose those benefits midway because of a later legislative change.

Such an interpretation, it said, would leave an individual "in the lurch" and would be "constitutionally immoral".

Accordingly, court held that persons born into a caste when it was specified as a Scheduled Caste, or persons who had availed reservation benefits because their caste was specified as a Scheduled Caste at that point of time, would remain entitled to all reservation benefits throughout their lifetime.

At the same time, it clarified that a person born after the caste ceases to be recognised as a Scheduled Caste would not be entitled to reservation benefits, even if the caste had previously been included in the SC list.

Applying these principles, the bench held that since the respondent belonged to the ‘Mochi’ caste when it was recognised as a Scheduled Caste and had availed reservation benefits during that period, he remained entitled to reservation benefits throughout his service, including promotional benefits.

Consequently, the order reverting him from the promotional post in 2012 was held to be unsustainable.

Case Title: EMPLOYEES' PROVIDENT FUND ORGANIZATION & ORS. v RANJIT VASANTLAL MAKWANA

Judgment Date: July 17, 2026

Bench: Justice N.S. Sanjay Gowda and Justice J.L. Odedra