9911796707
TMI Blog1979 (11) TMI 264X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... y, 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 T ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... aik 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) 'Kshatriya 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 Assam 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, a ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... Maria Koya Bhatola Khirwar or Khirwara Bhimma Kucha Maria Bhuta, Koilabhut Kuchaki Maria or Kollabhuti Bhar Madia (Maria) Bisonhorn Maria Mana Chota Maria Mannewar Dandami Maria Moghya or Mogia or Monghya Dhuru or Dhurwa Mudia (Muria) Dhoba Nagarchi Dhulia Nagwanshi Dorla Ojha Gaiki Raj Gatta or Gatti Sonjhari Jhareka Gaita Thatia or Thotya Gond Gowari Wade Maria or Vade Maria. Hill Maria 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: ___________________________________________________________ Tribe Synonym Sub-tribe __________________________________________________________ 1 2 3 ___________________________________________________________ 22. Gond Koitur Arakh Kalanga Bada Madia K ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ion of certain communities from the lists of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes. These exclusions are not being made at present and such communities are being retained in the lists with the present area restrictions. Such of the communities in respect of which the Joint Committee had recommended exclusion on the ground that they were not found in a State are, however, being excluded if there were no returns in respect of these communities in the censuses of 1961 and 1971............. Thereafter the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes Orders (Amendment) Act, 1976 (Act No. 108 of 1976) was passed by the Parliament and it had come into force before the election in question was held. By the above Act, the entire Schedule to the Order as it stood prior to the amendment was substituted by a new Schedule consisting of XVI parts. Part IX of the new Schedule relates to the State of Maharashtra. Entry No. 18 of Part IX of the new Schedule corresponds to Entry No. 22 of the Bill referred to above and to Entry No. 12 in Paragraph (5) of Part VII-A of the Order as it stood prior to the amendment. Entry No. 18 of Part IX of the Schedule to the Order after the amendment reads thus:- ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... the order which is made under Article 342 of the Constitution. Mr. M. N. Phadke, learned counsel for the appellant drew the attention of the Court to the omission of the word 'including' which according to him, had been used in Entry No. 12 of the Schedule as it stood prior to the amendment to indicate that the communities mentioned after it were those having affinity with the 'Gond' tribe, from the new Entry No. 18 of Part IX of the Schedule to the Order and contended that the group of communities mentioned in Entry No. 18 need not necessarily be those having mutual affinity amongst them. On the above basis, it was urged on behalf of the appellant that a person belonging to any 'Mana' community should be treated as a person belonging to a Scheduled Tribe even though it had no affinity with the 'Gond' tribe. We find it difficult to agree with the submission made by him. Sometimes, the word 'including' is used in a definition to give an extended meaning also to the word defined. In Dilworth v. Commissioner of Stamps(1), Lord Watson observed that when the word 'include' is used in an interpretation clause to enlarge the meaning of wo ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... Committee quoted above shows that in order to avoid confusion, the Committee recommended to follow the words in Article 342 of the Constitution and to enlist the tribes or tribal communities or parts of, or groups within, tribes or tribal communities under specific Entries. It also recommended that the main tribe should be mentioned first in any Entry followed by its synonyms and its sub-tribes in alphabetical order. Even without the aid of the proceedings of the Joint Committee, it is possible to arrive at the same conclusion in the context in which the word 'Mana' is found in Entry No. 18. Part IX of the Schedule to the Order as it stands today contains 47 Entries. In certain entries only one community is mentioned and in certain others. two or more communities are mentioned. It is obvious that certain communities have been grouped together under a single entry in the light of Article 342 of the Constitution which requires parts of or groups within a tribal community also to be specified in the order issued thereunder. It is, therefore, reasonable to hold that the communities mentioned against any specific entry are those which have mutual affinity amongst them. It i ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... The appellant has categorically admitted in the course of his evidence that there was no connection between his community and Gonds. His evidence is, We have no concern with the Gond community also. The customs and traditions with regand to marriage of our community are different from those of the Gonds . He has also stated in his deposition that 'I have no concern whatsoever with Gonds. There are sub-castes amongst Gonds. Some of them are Arak, Gowari, Raj gond, Bada Magia, Madia, Ojha and Wanjari. It is not true that Mana is a sub-caste of the Gonds. There is no community known as Gond'. That the appellant was a member of the 'Mana' community which has the qualification of 'Kshatriya' is established by his admission in his deposition that he was a member of the Kshatriya Mana Shikshana Sahayak Mandal, Chandrapur. Although in another part of his statement of objections, there are some contradictory statements, the following plea in para 9 of the said statement makes it obvious that there is a community called Kshatriya Bidwaik Mana community:- 9-As to Para 11 :-It is admitted that the respondent No. 1 was the Vice-President for some time and also an a ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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