[Rajbhar Community] Allahabad High Court directs State Govt to decide on representation seeking inclusion in ST list within 4 weeks

The Allahabad High Court on Friday directed the state government of Uttar Pradesh to take a final call within four weeks on the representation forward to it by the Centre that seeks inclusion of State's Rajbhar community in the Scheduled Tribes list.

The bench of Rohit Ranjan Agarwal was apprised by the counsel appearing for applicant Jago Rajbhar Jago Samiti, which had filed a contempt petition against the state government's failure to comply with court's earlier order, that despite court's direction, the state government had neither rejected nor allowed applicant's representation. 

The counsel referred to the order dated August 4, 2022, passed by the state government where the authorities had only held that some more time will be consumed in taking the decision on the representation. 

Taking note of the same, court opined that the order of the writ court had not been complied with and accordingly, directed the authorities to strictly comply with the court order and take a final call on the representation within a period of four weeks.

Jago Rajbhar Jago Samiti had initially applied through a sitting Member of the Legislative Assembly for including the Rajbhar community of the State of Uttar Pradesh in the list of Scheduled Tribes. 

The matter then reached the Central Government which had written on October 11, 2021, to the principal secretary, social welfare department, government of Uttar Pradesh, that it could not process the matter unless the proposal for including Bhar/Rajbhar community in the ST list had been processed by the state government.

The Central Government had then sent the representations received by various authorities in this regard to the Principal Secretary, Social Welfare Department, UP Govt for the purpose of taking appropriate actions in the matter.

The same lying unattended by the state government, the petitioner Samiti moved the high court, which on March 11, 2022, directed the state government to take a decision within two months on the representation forward to it by the Centre. However, the state passed an order on August 4 that it needs more time to take a final call on the issue. 

Case Title: C/M Jago Rajbhar Jago Samiti And Another v. Himanshu Kumar, Principal Secretary