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(2025) Law Today Live Doc. Id. 20787 = 2025:PHHC:139848 = 2026(1) RCR (Civil) 38
Decided on: 09.10.2025
A. Constitution of India, Article 341(1), 342(1) -- Scheduled Caste or Scheduled Tribe -- Power to specify a caste or tribe as a Scheduled Caste or Scheduled Tribe is conferred upon the President of India, in relation to each State or Union Territory -- Once such specification is made, only Parliament, by law, may include or exclude any caste or tribe from the notified list -- Neither the executive nor the judiciary has any authority to modify or extend the scope of the Presidential Order.
(Para 9.4)
B. Haryana Panchayati Raj Act, 1994 (11 of 1994), Section 9, 161 -- Constitution of India, Article 341(1), 342(1) -- Election of Sarpanch – Reserved seat for Scheduled Caste -- Scheduled Caste Certificate of father from other State -- The words “in relation to that State or Union Territory” occurring in Articles 341(1) and 342(1) are of decisive significance; they indicate that the recognition of a caste or tribe is confined to the particular State or Union Territory for which it is so notified -- Since the petitioner does not belong to any caste notified as Scheduled Caste in the State of Haryana, she had no legal right to hold the office of Sarpanch of a Gram Panchayat seat reserved for the Scheduled Castes -- Petitioner’s reliance on a certificate obtained from the authorities in Haryana on the basis of Scheduled Caste Certificate of her father issued by the State of Bihar, would not entitle the petitioner to contest election as a Scheduled Caste candidate in Gram Panchayat elections in the State of Haryana.
(Para 9.4, 12, 13)
C. Haryana Panchayati Raj Act, 1994 (11 of 1994), Section 51, 161, 176 – Election of Sarpanch/ Panch – Challenge to -- Election of a candidate to the post of Sarpanch or Panch (as the case may be), could be questioned either by filing an election petition under Section 176 of the 1994 Act or by submitting a complaint to the concerned authority under Section 51 of the 1994 Act.
(Para 14, 14.1)