VENKATARAMAIH, J. - (1.) THIS appeal is filed under Section 116-A of the Representation of the People Act, 1951 (Act No. 43 of 1951) (hereinafter referred to as 'the Act') against the judgment of the High Court of Bombay (Nagpur Bench) in Election Petition No. 2 of 1978 by which the election of the appellant to the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly from the Armori Constituency (No. 151) in Chandrapur District at the general election held in February, 1978 was set aside. The Armori Constituency was reserved for Scheduled Tribes. The appellant and respondents Nos. 1 to 4 were the candidates at the election. As the appellant secured the highest number of votes, he was declared as having been elected by the Returning Officer. In his nomination paper, the appellant declared that he belonged to 'Mana' Community. Respondents Nos. 1, 2 and 4 declared themselves as belonging to 'Pradhan' community and respondent No. 3 claimed that he belonged to 'Raj Gond' community. After the result of the election was declared, respondent No. 1 who had secured the next highest number of votes at the election filed an election petition under Section 81 of the Act before the High Court of Bombay calling in question the election of the appellant. One of the grounds urged in the petition was that the appellant did not belong to any of the Scheduled Tribes specified in Part IX of the Schedule to the Constitution (Scheduled Tribes) Order, 1950 (hereinafter referred to as 'the Order') as it stood at the time of the election and was not, therefore, qualified to be chosen to fill the seat which was reserved for Scheduled Tribes. It was alleged that the appellant belonged to Kshetriya Bidwaik Mana community and not to the 'Mana' community referred to in Entry No. 18 of Part IX of the Schedule to the Order. Respondent No. 1 also claimed that in the event of the appellant's election being declared as void, the Court should make a declaration that he (respondent No. 1) himself had been duly elected. The High Court upheld the contention of respondent No. 1 that the appellant did not belong to any of the Scheduled Tribes referred to in Part IX of the Schedule to Order and declared his election as void. The other prayer made by respondent No. 1 that he should be declared as elected was, however, rejected. Aggrieved by the judgment of the High Court, the appellant has come up in appeal to this Court.
(2.) IT should be mentioned at this stage that in the general election held in the year 1967, the appellant was declared as a successful candidate from the very same constituency which was a constituency reserved for Scheduled Tribes at that time also and that on an election petition being filed against the appellant, the High Court held that he did not belong to any of the Scheduled Tribes mentioned in the appropriate part of the Schedule to the Order at that time and therefore he was not qualified to contest the election. Accordingly his election was set aside. In the appeal filed before this Court, the judgment of the High Court was affirmed vide Dina v. Narayan Singh, (1968) 38 Ele LR 212 (SC). In the course of the decision of this Court, it was held that the appellant belonged to 'Kshetriya Bidwaik Mana' community and not to the 'Mana' community referred to in Entry No. 12 of Paragraph 5 of Part VII-A of the Schedule to the Order as it stood at the time of the said election for the reason to which we shall advert hereafter. In the election petition out of which this appeal arises, respondent No. 1 pleaded that the appellant belonged to 'Kshetrya Bidwalk Mana' community which was not a Tribe mentioned in the Schedule to the Order and that the appellant was not a member of the 'Mana' community referred to in Entry No. 18 of Part IX of the Schedule to the Order as it stood at the time of the election in question. It was further alleged that the said 'Mana' community was a sub-tribe of Gond tribe and it had no relationship with the 'Kshetriya Bidwaik Mana' community to which the appellant belonged. The appellant denied the above allegation that there were two types of Manas viz. (a) "Mana' a sub-tribe of 'Gond' referred to in Entry No. 18 of Part IX of the Schedule to the Order and (b) 'Kshetriya Bidwaik Mana' community. He further contended that the 'Mana' community to which he belonged had been included in that Entry after the Schedule to the Order was amended by the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes Order (Amendment) Act, 1976. In order to appreciate the rival contentions, it is necessary to make a brief survey of the law bearing on the question. Article 332 of the Constitution provides that seats shall be reserved for the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes, except the Scheduled Tribes in the tribal areas of Asam and Nagaland, in the Legislative Assembly of every State and that the number of seats for the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes so reserved shall bear, as nearly as may be, the same proportion to the total number of seats in the Assembly as the population of the Scheduled Castes in the State or of the Scheduled Tribes in the State or part of the State, as the case may be, in respect of which seats are so reserved, bears to the total population of the State. The expression 'Scheduled Tribes' with which we are concerned in this case is defined in clause (25) of Article 366 of the Constitution as such tribes or tribal communities or parts of or groups within such tribes or tribal communities is are deemed under Article 342 to be Scheduled Tribes for the purposes of the Constitution. Article 342 (1) of the Constitution provides that the President may with respect to any State or Union territory and where it is a State or Union territory and where it is a State after consultation with the Governor thereof, by public notification, specify the tribes or tribal communities or parts of or groups, within tribes or tribal communities which shall for the purposes of the Constitution be deemed to be Scheduled Tribes in relation to that State or Union Territory, as the case may be. It was in pursuance of this constitutional provision that the President issued the Order specifying the tribes or tribal communities which should be deemed to be Schedule Tribes in relation to the several parts of India. Article 342(2) of the Constitution confers the power on the Parliament to modify by law the order issued under Article 342(1) by the including in or excluding from the list of Schedule Tribes specified therein any tribe or tribal community or part of or group within any tribe or tribal community. Section 5(a) of the Act provides that a person shall not be qualified to be chosen to fill a seat in the Legislative Assembly of a State unless, in the case of a seat reserved for the Schedule Tribes of that State he is a member of any of those tribes and is any elector for any Assembly constituency in that State. The area in which the appellant and respondents Nos. 1 to 4 are residing is situate within the area known as Gadchiroli and Sironcha Tahsils of the Chandrapur District of the State of Maharashtra,. Prior to the amendment made in 1956, Entry No. 12 in the relevant part of the Schedule to the Order read as "Gond including Madia (Maria) and Mudia (Muria)". By the Schedule Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Amendment) Act 63 of 1956, the said Entry No. 12 was substituted by Entry No. 12 in Paragraph (5) of Part VII-A of the Schedule to the Order which was as follows: "12.Gond including - JUDGEMENT_621_1_1980Html1.htm JUDGEMENT_621_1_1980Html2.htm
(3.) THE 30th tribe amongst the tribes included within the broad classification of "Gond' tribe is 'Mana' tribe. As mentioned earlier, the claim of the appellant that he belonged to the said tribe in the previous case was negatived. In August, 1967, a Bill was introduced in the Lok Sabha proposing to amend the Schedule to the Order. By that Bill, it was proposed to substitute the Schedule to the Order as it stood then by a new Schedule. Part VIII of the new Schedule related to Maharashtra. Entry No. 22 in that Part read as follows:- JUDGEMENT_621_1_1980Html3.htm In the proposed Entry, 'Mana' community was shown as a sub-tribe of Gond tribe. With the concurrence of the Rajya Sabha, the Bill was referred to a Joint Committee of the Parliament presided over by Shri Anil K. Chanda. The Report of the Joint Committee on the Bill was presented to the Lok Sabha on 17/11/1969. In so far as the amendments proposed to the Schedule to the Order were concerned, the Joint Committee inter alia observed at Paragraph 20 (ii) thus : - "20 (ii). The Committee feel that the proposal to specify the tribes, the synonyms and the sub-tribes in three separate columns will not be appropriate. As in the case of Schedule Castes Orders, the Committee are of the view that it would be beast to follow the wording of Article 342 (1) of the Constitution and specify "The tribes or tribal communities, or parts of, or groups within, tribes or tribal communities". Each of the Scheduled Tribes Orders have been modified accordingly, and in the lists of Schedule Tribes the main tribe name is written first followed by the synonyms and sub-tribes in alphabetical order." ;