Koya Tribe Members Move Supreme Court Challenging ST Status of Lambadi, Sugali, Bajara Communities

The petitioner, belonging to the Koya tribe; a constitutionally recognized Scheduled Tribe, had originally filed a writ petition in 2016 under Article 226 seeking to declare the inclusion of these communities as unconstitutional.

The Telangana High Court, relying on an earlier 2018 judgment in W.P. No. 21254 of 2018, had directed the petitioners to approach the Central Government with their grievance. That 2018 judgment is currently under challenge before the Supreme Court in SLP(C) No. 17519/2018 (Gondwana Welfare Society v. State of Telangana), in which notice has been issued and leave granted.

In their latest plea before the Apex Court, the petitioner argues that the inclusion of Lambadi, Sugali, and Bajara communities in the Constitution (Scheduled Tribes) Order, 1950, via the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes Orders (Amendment) Acts of 1976 and 2002, was done in violation of the constitutional procedure prescribed under Article 342.

The petitioner contend that this inclusion has severely impacted the Koya community’s access to educational, employment, and electoral reservations.

"The petitioners have had to suffer grossly on an educational, economic and social level due to their meager share in reaping the benefit of reservation provided to them in matters of admissions to schools and colleges and public employment vis-à-vis the Lambada and Sugali (Banjara) Tribe candidates who are considerably well advanced in matters of education and finances and the Petitioners being the indigenous tribal’s have to suffer in the face of the subsequent inclusion of the members of Sugals/ Lambadis/ Banjaras as the Scheduled Tribes since 1976," the plea reads. 

The matter now awaits consideration before the Supreme Court.