Migrants Cannot Claim SC/ST Reservation Benefits In Rajasthan Based On Caste Status In Home State: Rajasthan High Court

The Rajasthan High Court has held that if a candidate belonging to any reserved category in a State outside Rajasthan, migrated to Rajasthan and applied for a post, s/he shall be automatically considered disentitled to claim reservation-benefits and would be considered under the General category instead.

The division bench of Justice Vinit Kumar Mathur and Justice Chandra Shekhar Sharma was hearing a special appeal filed against the order of the single judge that had dismissed the petition filed by the petitioner-candidate.

For context, the petitioner hailed from Gujarat and was recognized as belonging to the ST category in Gujarat. She got married to a man in Rajasthan who also belonged to the same caste as her. After moving to Rajasthan, she applied for the post of Nursing Office and claimed reservation under the ST category.

Instead of considering her candidature under the reserved category, she was considered under the General category. A petition was filed against this which was dismissed by the Court. Hence, this order was challenged in the special appeal.

Based on references to certain past orders, the counsel for the State argued that if a person belonging to a reserved category in a particular state migrated to another state, his/her candidature would be considered in general category.

After considering the submissions, the Court referred to the Supreme Court decision in Marri Chandra Shekhar Rao v/s Dean Geth G.S. Medical College and others, in which it was held,

“…right to migration or right to move from one part to another is a right given to all--to scheduled castes or tribes and to non-scheduled castes or tribes. But when a Scheduled Caste or tribe migrates, there is no inhibition in migrating but when he migrates, he does not and cannot carry any special rights or privileges attributed to him or granted to him in the original State specified for that State or area or part thereof.”

Furthermore, reference was made to another Apex Court decision in Action Committee on the issue of Caste Certificate to Scheduled Castes and scheduled Tribes in the State of Maharashtra and Anr. V/s UOI & Anr., in which the Supreme Court opined,

“…merely because a given caste is specified in State A as a Scheduled Caste does not necessarily mean that if there be another caste bearing the same nomenclature in another State the person belonging to the former would be entitled to the fights, privileges and benefits admissible to a member of the Scheduled Caste of the latter State "for the purposes of this Constitution.”

In this background, the Court agreed with the decision by the single judge, and accordingly, the appeal was dismissed.