It could be a long haul for both the Centre and the Rajasthan government so far as the issue of granting tribal status to Gurjars is concerned.
NEW DELHI: It could be a long haul for both the Centre and the Rajasthan government so far as the issue of granting tribal status to Gurjars is concerned.
The fact that the Constitution is silent on the definition of a scheduled tribe (ST) provides enough leverage to the states.
Under the prescribed procedure the onus lies on the Centre to grant ST status to a community. All a state has to do is to recommend the case. The Constitution per se gives no definition of STs. Article 366 (25) merely refers to STs as communities scheduled in accordance with article 342 of the Constitution.
Article 342 defines STs as tribes or tribal communities or part of or groups within tribes and tribal communities who have been declared so by the president through a public notification. The president (read Union government) can do so after consultation with the governor (read state government) and issue a notification to specify tribes and tribal communities. Secondly, parliament also has powers to include or exclude groups from the list of STs.
In the present context, neither the state government nor the Centre will like to be seen siding with a particular group as Rajasthan is heading for assembly elections. Chief minister Vasundhara Raje has in a letter recommended 4 to 6% quota for Gurjars in the de-notified class of tribals/nomads.
On its part, the Union cabinet, in its meeting on Tuesday, is learnt to have rejected Raje’s letter. But it has referred the matter in its entirety to the law ministry which, it is felt, is nothing but a time-buying tactic. The law ministry is learnt to have opined that Rajasthan's demand for ST status to Gurjars was not constitutional.
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