Principal, Guntur Medical College,
Guntur Vs. Y. Mohan Rao [1976] INSC 102 (6 April 1976)
BHAGWATI, P.N.
BHAGWATI, P.N.
RAY, A.N. (CJ) GUPTA, A.C.
FAZALALI, SYED MURTAZA SINGH, JASWANT
CITATION: 1976 AIR 1904 1976 SCR (3)1046 1976
SCC (3) 411
ACT:
Constitution of India-Articles 15(4) 29(2),
341, 366(24) Constitution (Scheduled Castes) order 1950-scheduled Caste- A
Hindu belonging to a Scheduled Caste-Whether ceases to belong to Scheduled
Caste on conversion to Christianity.
On reconversion whether he regains membership
of Scheduled Caste-Whether person must belong to Scheduled Caste by birth.
HEADNOTE:
The parents of the respondent originally
professed Hindu religion and belonged to Madiga caste which is a scheduled
caste, in the Andhra Pradesh as specified in the schedule to the Constitution
(Scheduled Castes) order, 1950.
Respondent's parents were converted to
Christianity and thereafter the respondent was born. The respondent got himself
converted to Hinduism renouncing Christianity.
Thereafter, he applied for admission to Guntur Medical College on the basis that he was a member of a Scheduled Caste. He was
provisionally selected for admission but subsequently was informed by the
principal the College that his selection was cancelled as he was not a Hindu by
birth.
The Principal relied on Note (b) to Clause of
rule 2 of the Rules issued by the Government of Andhra Pradesh for admission to
the M.B.B.S. course in Government Medical College. The said note provides that
no candidate other than Hindu can claim to belong to Scheduled Caste. It
further provides that no candidate can belong to Scheduled Caste except by
birth.
The respondent filed a Writ Petition in the
High Court challenging the validity of Note (b) as going beyond the scope of
the Constitution (Scheduled Castes) order, 1950.
The respondent succeeded before the learned
single Judge as well as the Division Bench of the High Court. In fact, it was
conceded by the appellant before the High Court that note (b) was repugnant to
the said order.
Dismissing the appeal by Special Leave,
HELD: 1. It is clear on a plain reading of
clause 4 of Article 15 that the State has power to make special provision for
scheduled castes and in exercise of its power the State can reserve seats in a
Medical College for members of Scheduled Castes without violating Article 15 or
Article 29(2). Article 366(24) defines Scheduled Castes to mean such castes,
races or tribes as are deemed under Article 341 to be scheduled castes. The
President in exercise of the powers conferred upon him under Article 341 has
issued Constitution (Scheduled Castes) order 1950. Madiga caste is included in
the schedule to the said order. The said order itself, however, provides that
no person who. professes a religion other than Hindu or Sikh shall be deemed to
be a member of a scheduled caste. It, however, does not require that the should
have been born a Hindu or a Sikh. The only thing required is that at the
material time he should profess Hindu or Sikh religion. The requirement of the
note that a candidate in order to be eligible for a reserved seat should be a
member of a Scheduled Caste by birth went beyond the said order and was rightly
condemned as void. [1049B-H, 1050A]
2. There is no absolute rule applicable in
all cases that whenever a member of a caste is converted from Hinduism to
Christianity he loses his membership of the caste. It would depend upon r the
structure of the caste and its rules and regulations. There are some castes,
1047 particularly ill South India, where this consequence does not follow on
conversion since such castes comprise both Hindus and Christians. Whether
Madiga caste falls in this category is a debatable question. For the purposes
of the present appeal it is not necessary to decide the contention of the
respondent that there are both Hindus and Christians in Madiga caste and even
after conversion to Christianity his parents continued to belong to Madiga
caste. [1050-C-F]
3. A similar question about the effect of
re-conversion was decided by this Court in the case of C. R. Arumugam vs. S.
Rajagopal. In that case this Court laid down that there is no reason to hold
that a person on reconversion to Hinduism cannot once again become a member of
the caste in which he was born and to which he belonged before conversion to
another religion. The reasoning on which this decision proceeded is equally
applicable will a cause where the parents of a person are converted from
Hinduism to Christianity and he is born after their conversion and on his
subsequent embraching Hinduism, the members of the caste to which the parents
belong prior to their conversion accept him as a member within the fold. It is
for the members of the caste to decide whether or not to admit a person within
the caste. Since the caste is a social combination of persons governed by its
rules and regulations, it may, if its rules and regulations so provide, admit a
new member just as it may expel an existing member. The only requirement for
admission of a person as a member of the caste is the acceptance of the reason
by the other members of the caste. On conversion to Hinduism a person would not
become a member of the caste to which his parents belonged prior to their
conversion, automatically or as a matter of course but he would become such member
if the other members of the caste accept him as a members and admit him within
the fold. [1050G, 1051B-E] There is nothing on record to show whether the
respondent was accepted by Madiga caste. However, it is not necessary to
undertake this enquiry because it has been agreed by the appellants that
whatever be the result of the appeal, the admission of the respondent would not
be disturbed. [1051-FG]
CIVlL APPELLATE JURISDICTION: Civil Appeal
No. 984 of 1975.
Appeal by Special Leave from the judgment and
Order dated the 10th February 1975 of the Andhra Pradesh High Court in W.A. No.
752 of 1974.
P. Ramachandra Reddy, Advocate General, A.P.,
P. P. Rao and V. Seetharaman, for the appellant.
R. C. Raghavan, G. Vedanta Rao and B. Kanta
Rao, for the respondent.
The Judgment of the Court was delivered by
BHAGWATI, J. The short question that arises for determination, in this appeal
is whether a person whose parents belonged to a Scheduled Caste before their
conversion to Christianity can on conversion or reconversion to Hinduism, be
regarded as a member of the Scheduled Caste so as to be eligible for the
benefit of reservation of seats for Scheduled Castes in the matter of a
admission to a medical college.
The parents of the respondent originally
professed Hindu religion and belonged to Madiga caste which is admittedly a
caste deemed to be a Scheduled Caste in the State of Andhra Pradesh as
specified in Part I of the Schedule to the Constitution (Scheduled Castes)
Order, 1950.
They were both converted to Christianity at
some point of time 1048 which does not appear clearly from the record, but it
was the case of the respondent in his Writ Petition that he was born after
their conversion. This was also the assumption on which the arguments proceeded
before the High Court and before us, too. The counsel or the respondent
expressed his readiness to argue the case on the same assumption, namely, that
the respondent was born after the conversion of his parents, or, in other
words, he was born of Christian parents. It appears that in the State of Andhra
Pradesh, for the purpose inter alia of admission to medical college, converts
to Christianity are treated as belonging to backward class and, therefore, when
the respondent applied for admission to Gandhi Medical College in 1973, he
described himself as a member of a backward class. But he did not succeed in
getting admission. Thereupon he got himself converted to Hinduism on 20th
September, 1973 from Andhra Pradesh Arunchatiya Sangham stating that he had
renounced Christianity and embraced Hinduism after going through Suddhi
ceremony and he was thereafter "received back into Madiga caste of Hindu
fold". On the strength of this certificate, claiming to be a` member of
Madiga caste, the respondent applied for admission to Guntur Medical College
and on the basis that he was a member of a Scheduled Caste, he was
provisionally selected for admission. But subsequently he was informed by the
Principal of the Medical College that his selection was cancelled as he was not
a Hindu by birth. The Principal apparently relied on Note (b) to clause (C) of
rule 2 of the Rules issued by the Government of Andhra Pradesh under GO Rt. No.
1315 dated 4th December, 1973 for admission to the M.B.B.S. Course in
Government Medical Colleges for the Academic year 1973-74.
This Note was in the following terms:
"No candidate other than Hindu including
a Sikh can claim to belong to Schedule Castes. No candidates can claim to
belong to the Scheduled Caste except by birth." The respondent thereupon
preferred a writ petition in the High Court of Andhra Pradesh challenging the
validity of cancellation of his admission on the ground that Note (b), which
required that a candidate, in order to be eligible or a seat reserved for
Scheduled Caste, should belong to a Scheduled Caste by birth, went beyond the
scope of the Constitution (Scheduled Castes) order, 1950 and was, therefore,
void and the Principal was not entitled to cancel his admission on the ground
that he was not a Hindu or a member of a Scheduled Caste by birth. This ground
of challenge was accepted by a Single Judge of the High Court and on appeal, a
Division Bench of the High Court also took the same view. In fact, it was
conceded before the Division Bench by the learned Government Pleader appearing
on behalf of the State that Note (b) was repugnant to the provisions of cl. (3)
of the Constitution (Scheduled Castes) order, 1950, since the only requirement
of that clause was that in order to be a member of a Scheduled Caste, person
should be professing Hindu or Sikh religion and it did not prescribe that he
should be a Hindu by birth. The State did not succeed in obtaining leave to
appeal from the High Court and hence it preferred a special leave petition to
this Court.
When the special leave petition came up for
hearing, there was no decision of 1049 this Court dealing with the question as
to whether a convert or reconvert to Hinduism can become a member of a
Scheduled Caste and of so, in what circumstances and hence we granted special
leave to the State, on the State agreeing that whatever be the result of the
appeal, the admission of the respondent will not be disturbed and that the
State will, in any event, pay the costs of the respondent. It may be pointed
out that since then a decision on this question has been rendered by a Bench of
three judges of this Court to which we shall refer later.
It is clear on a plain reading of clause (4)
of Art. 15 that the State has power to make special provision for scheduled
Castes and in exercise of this power, the State can reserve seats in a medical
college for members of Scheduled Castes without violating Art. 1 S or cl. (2)
of Art. 29. The expression 'Scheduled Castes' has a technical meaning given to
it by cl. (24) of Art. 366 and it means "such castes, races or tribes or
parts or groups within such castes, races or tribes as are deemed under article
341 to be Scheduled Castes for the purposes of this Constitution." The
President in exercise of the power conferred upon him under Art. 341 has issued
the Constitution (Scheduled Castes) order, 1950. paragraphs (2) and (3) of
this; order are material and they read as follows:
"2. Subject to the provisions of this
order, the castes, races or tribes or parts of or groups within caste or tribes
specified in Part I to XIII of the Schedule to this order shall, in relation to
the States to which these parts respectively relate, be deemed to be scheduled
castes so far as regards members thereof resident in the localities specified
in relation to them in those Parts of that Schedule.
3. Notwithstanding anything contained in
Paragraph 2, no. person who professes a religion different from the Hindu or
the Sikh religion shall be deemed to be a member of a Scheduled Caste." F
The Schedule to this Order in part I sets out the castes, races or tribes or
parts of or groups within castes or tribes which shall in the different areas
of the State of Andhra Pradesh be deemed to be Scheduled Castes. One of the
castes specified there is Madiga caste and that caste must, therefore, be deemed
to be a Scheduled Caste. But by reason of c]. (3), a person belonging to Madiga
caste would not be deemed to be a member of a Scheduled Caste unless he
professes Hindu or Sikh religion at the relevant time. It is not necessary that
he should have been born a Hindu or a Sikh. The only thing required is that he
should at the material time be professing Hindu or Sikh religion. Now, Note (b)
was interpreted by the Principal of the Medical College to require that a
candidate, in order to be eligible for a seat reserved for Scheduled Castes,
should be a Hindu by birth. This interpretation was plainly erroneous because
what Note (b) required was not that a candidate should be a Hindu by birth but
that 1050 he should belong to a Scheduled Caste by birth. But even this
requirement that a candidate in order to be eligible for a reserved seat should
be a member of a Scheduled Caste by birth went beyond the provision in cl. (3)
of the Constitution (Scheduled Castes order. 1950 and was rightly condemned as
void and no reliance was placed upon it on behalf of the State.
The principal argument advanced on behalf of
the State was that when the respondent was converted to Hinduism, he did not
automatically become a member of the Madiga caste, out it was open to the members
of the Madiga caste to accept him within their fold and it was only if he was
so accepted, that he could claim to have become a member of the Madiga caste.
There was no evidence in the present case, contended the State, showing that
the respondent, on his conversion to Hinduism, was accepted as a member of the
Madiga caste by the other members of that caste and, therefore, he was not at
the time of his application for admission a member of a Scheduled caste Now,
before we proceed to consider this contention, it is necessary to point out
that there is no absolute rule applicable in all cases that whenever a member
of a caste is converted from Hinduism to Christianity, he loses his membership
of the caste. This question has been considered by this Court in C. M. Arumugam
v. S. Rajgopal and it has been pointed out there that ordinarily it is true
that on conversion to Christianity, a person would cease to be a member of the
caste to which he belongs, but that is not an invariable rule. It would depend
on the structure of the caste and its rules and regulations. There are some cases,
particularly in South India, where this consequence does not follow on
conversion, since such castes comprise both Hindus and Christians. Whether
Madiga is a caste which falls within this category is a debatable question. The
contention of the respondent in his writ petition was that mere are both Hindus
and Christians in Madiga caste and even after conversion to Christianity, his
parents continued to belong to Madiga caste and he was, therefore, a member of
Madiga caste right from the time of his birth. It is not necessary for the
purpose of the present appeal to decide this question. We may assume that, on
conversion to Christianity, the parents of the respondent lost their membership
of Madiga caste and that the respondent was, therefore, not a Madiga by birth.
The question is: could the respondent become a member of Madiga caste on
conversion to Hindusim ? That is a question on which considerable light is
thrown by the decision of this Court in C. M. Arumugam v. S. Rajgopal (supra).
The main question which arose for decision in
C. M. Arumugamr v. S. RaJgopal (supra) was whether S. Raigopal, who belonged to
Adi Dravida caste before his conversion to Christianity, could, on reconversion
to Hinduism once again become a member of the Adi Dravida caste. This Court,
after examining the question on principle and referring to the decided cases,
pointed out that the consistent view taken in this country since 1886 was that
on reconversion to 1051 Hinduism, a person can once again become a member of
the caste in which he was born and to which he belonged before conversion to
another religion, if the members of the caste accept him as a member. This
Court observed that there was no reason, either on principle or on authority,
which should compel it to disregard this view which has prevailed for almost a
century and lay down a different rule on the subject and concluded that on
reconversion to Hinduism, S. Rajgopal could once again revert to his Adi
Dravida caste, for he was accepted by the other members of the caste.
The reasoning on which this decision
proceeded is equally applicable in a case where the parents of a person are
converted from Hinduism to Christianity and he is born after their conversion
and on his subsequently embracing Hinduism, the members of the caste to which
the parents belonged prior to their conversion accept him as a member within
the fold. It is for the members of the caste to decide whether or not to admit
a person within the caste.
Since the caste is a social combination of
persons governed by its rules and regulations, it may, if its rules and
regulations so provide, admit a new member just as it may expel an existing
member. The only requirement for admission of a person as a member of the caste
is the acceptance of the person by the other members of the caste, for, as
pointed out by Krishnaswami Ayyangar, J., in Durgaprasada Rao v.
Sudarsanaswami," in matters affecting the well being or composition of a
caste, the caste itself is the supreme judge". (emphasis supplied). It
will, therefore, be seen that on conversion to Hinduism, a person born of
Christian converts would not become a member of the caste to which his parents
belonged prior to their conversion to Christianity, automatically or as a
matter of course, but he would become such member, if the other members of the
caste accept him as a member and admit him within the fold.
This view would have ordinarily required us
to find whether, on the material on record, it could be said to have been
established by the respondent that, on conversion to Hinduism, he was accepted
as a member of Madiga caste by the other members of that caste, for it is only
if he was so accepted that he could claim to be a member of a Scheduled Caste.
But it is not necessary for us to undertake this inquiry because, as already
pointed out, it has been agreed by the State that, whatever be the result of
this appeal, the admission of the respondent will not be disturbed.
We accordingly dismiss the appeal with costs
in favour of the respondent.
P.H.P. Appeal dismissed.
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