Manipur High Court deletes earlier direction to consider ST status for Meiteis

A bench of the Manipur High Court on February 21 removed a paragraph from its March 2023 judgment that previously directed the state government to consider the inclusion of Meiteis in the Scheduled Tribes (ST) list. 

This judgment from March 2023 reportedly sparked the current ethnic conflict in Manipur, as the Meiteis and the tribal Kuki-Zo communities clashed over the ST status issue. Following a review petition against the March 2023 ruling, the high court ordered the removal of Paragraph 17(iii), which had directed the Manipur government to consider adding Meiteis to the ST list.

A now removed paragraph stated that the State government will consider the Meetei/Meitei community's inclusion in the Scheduled Tribe list swiftly. The court pointed out that according to the Supreme Court's decision in 'State of Maharashtra -vs- Milind and Others', courts cannot expand jurisdiction to determine whether a specific case, sub-caste, group or part of a tribe or sub-tribe is included in the Presidential Orders under Articles 341 and 342. The top court noted that Clause (2) of the said Article explicitly states that these orders can only be amended or varied by a law made by Parliament.

The court arrived at the decision to delete the paragraph after a joint perusal of the procedure laid down by the Centre for inclusion in or exclusion from the list of Scheduled Tribe issued under Article 342 of the Constitution of India in Clause (g) of the Annual Report, 2013-14 of the Ministry of Tribal Affairs, and the Constitutional Bench's decision in State of Maharashtra V.Milind & Ors. 

"I am satisfied and of the view that the direction given at Para No. 17(iii) of the Hon’ble Single Judge dated 27.03.2023 passed in W.P.(C) No. 229 of the 2023 which is impugned herein needs to be reviewed, as the direction given at Para No. 17(iii) of the Hon’ble Single Judge is against the observation made in the Constitution Bench of the Hon’ble Supreme Court. Accordingly, the direction given at Para No. 17(iii) needs to be deleted and is ordered accordingly for deletion of the Para No. 17(iii) of the judgment and order dated 27.03.2023 passed in W.P.(C) No. 229 of 2023." the high court's order read.

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