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TMI Blog1975 (12) TMI 191X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... pposed each other as candidates from this constituency in 1967 General Election to the Mysore Legislative Assembly. Now, the seat from this constituency was a seat reserved for Scheduled Castes and, therefore, only members of Scheduled castes could stand as candidates from this constituency. The expression Scheduled Castes has a technical meaning given to it by Clause (24) of Article 366 of the Constitution and it means such castes, races or tribes or parts of or groups within such castes or tribes as are deemed under Article 341 to be Scheduled Castes for the purpose of the Constitution . The President, in exercise of the power conferred upon him under Article 341 issued the Constitution (Scheduled Castes) Order, 1950. Paragraphs 2 and 3 of this Order are material and, since the amendment made by Central Act 63 of 1956, they are in the following terms: 2. Subject to the provisions of this Order, the castes, races or tribes or parts of, or groups within castes or tribes specified in Part I to XIII of the Schedule to this Order shall, in relation to the States to which those parts respectively relate, be deemed to be scheduled castes so far as regards members thereof resid ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... rt addressed itself to four questions, namely, first, whether the 1st respondent had become a convert to Christianity in 1949; secondly, whether, on such conversion, he ceased to be a member of Adi Dravida caste; thirdly, whether he had reverted to Hinduism and started professing Hindu religion at the date of filing his nomination, and lastly, whether on again professing the Hindu religion, he once again became a member of Adi Dravida caste. So far as the first question was concerned, this Court, on a consideration of the evidence, held that the 1st respondent was converted to Christianity in 1949 and in regard to the second question, this Court observed that it must be held that when the 1st respondent embraced Christianity in 1949, he ceased to belong to Adi Dravida caste. This Court then proceeded to consider the third question and held that having regard to the seven circumstances enumerated in the judgment, it was clear that at the relevant time in 1967, that is, in January-February 1967, the 1st respondent was professing Hindu religion. That led to a consideration of the last question as to the effect of reconversion of the 1st respondent to Hinduism. This Court referred to a ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... and he was, therefore, not qualified to stand as a candidate for the reserved seat from this constituency. The 1st respondent rejoined by saying that he was never converted to Christianity and that in any event, even if it was held that he had become a Christian, he was reconverted to Hinduism since long and was accepted by the members of the Adi Dravida caste as belonging to their fold and was, therefore, an Adi Dravida professing Hindu religion at the material date and hence qualified to stand as a candidate. The Returning Officer, by an order dated 9th February, 1972, upheld the objection of the appellant and taking the view that, on conversion to Christianity, the 1st respondent ceased to be an Adi Dravida and thereafter on reconversion, he could not claim the benefit of the Constitution (Scheduled Castes) Order, 1950, the Returning Officer rejected the nomination of the 1st respondent. The election thereafter took place without the 1st respondent as a candidate and the appellant, having obtained the highest number of votes, was declared elected. 5. The 1st respondent filed Election Petition No. 3 of 1972 in the High Court of Mysore challenging the election of the appellant ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... professing Hindu religion as required by Paragraphs 2 and 3 of the Constitution (Scheduled Castes) Order, 1950. The High Court, in this view, held that the nomination of the 1st respondent was improperly rejected by the Returning Officer and that invalidated the election under Section 100(1)(c) of the Act. The High Court accordingly set aside the election of the appellant and declared it to be void. This judgment of the High Court is impugned in the present appeal under Section 116A of the Act. 6. Now before we deal with the contentions urged on behalf of the appellant in support of the appeal, it would be convenient first to refer to two grounds which were held by the High Court against the 1st respondent. The 1st respondent contended that these two grounds were wrongly decided against him and even on these two grounds he was entitled to claim that, at the material time, he was an Adi Dravida professing Hindu religion. The first ground was that he was never converted to Christianity and the second was, that, on such conversion, he did not cease to be an Adi Dravida. The appellant disputed the claim of the 1st respondent to agitate these two grounds in the appeal before us. The ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... s. It is true that this Court held in the earlier case that, on embracing Christianity in 1949, the 1st respondent ceased to be a member of the Adi Dravida caste, but this decision given in a case relating to 1967 General Election on the basis of the evidence led in that case, cannot be res judicata in the present case which relates to 1972 General Election and where fresh evidence has been adduced on behalf of the parties, and more so, when all the parties in the present case are not the same as those in the earlier case. It is, therefore, competent to us to consider whether, on the evidence on record in the present case, it can be said to have been established that, on conversion to Christianity in 1949, the 1st respondent ceased to belong to Adi Dravida caste. 9. It is a matter of common knowledge that the institution of caste is a peculiarly Indian institution. There is considerable controversy amongst scholars as to how the caste system originated in this country. It is not necessary for the purpose of this appeal to go into this highly debatable question. It is sufficient to state that originally there were only four main castes, but gradually castes and sub-castes m ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... e makes sometimes a new caste. A caste is more a social combination than a religious group. But since, as pointed out by Rajamannar, C.J. v. in G. Michael v. S. Venkateswaran : AIR1952Mad474 ethics provides the standard for social life and it is founded ultimately on religious beliefs and doctrines, religion is inevitably mixed up with social conduct and that is why caste has become an integral feature of Hindu society. But from that it does not necessarily follow as an invariable rule that whenever a person renounces Hinduism and embraces another religious faith, he automatically ceases to be a member of the caste in which he was born and to which he belonged prior to his conversion. It is no doubt true, and there we agree with the Madras High Court in G. Michael's case (supra) that the general rule is that conversion operates as an expulsion from the caste, or, in other words, the convert ceases to have any caste, because caste is predominantly a feature of Hindu society and ordinarily a person who ceases to be a Hindu would not be regarded by the other members of the caste as belonging to their fold. But ultimately it must depend on the structure of the caste and its rules ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... m new sects with their own religious and social observances is a characteristic feature of Hinduism ...It should ...be remembered that sects were formed not only on community of religion but also community of functions. Casteism which has taken deep roots in Hinduism for some reason or other may not therefore cease its existence even after conversion. May be that the religion or faith to which conversion takes place, on grounds of policy or otherwise, does not take exception to this social order which does not interfere with its spiritual or theological aspect which is the main object of the religion. That is why we find several members of lower castes converted to Christianity in Madras State ...still continue to be members of their castes...Thus a conversion does not' necessarily result in extinguishment of caste and notwithstanding conversion, a convert may enjoy the privileges social and political by virtue of his being a member of the community with its acceptance. The elected candidate in this case was held to continue to belong to the Mala Andhra Caste which was a Scheduled Caste, despite his conversion to Christianity. It was again reiterated by the High Court of And ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... r. What is, therefore, material to consider is how the caste looks at the question of conversion. Does it outcaste or excommunicate the convert or does it still treat him as continuing within its fold despite his conversion? If the convert desires and intends to continue as a member of the caste and the caste also continues to treat him as a member, notwithstanding his conversion, he would continue to be a member of the caste and, 'as pointed out by this Court the views of the new faith hardly matter . This was the principle on which it was decided by the Court in Chatturbhuj Vithaldas Jasani's case (supra) that Gangaram Thaware, whose nomination as a Scheduled Caste candidate was rejected by the Returning Officer, continued to be a Mahar which was specified as a Scheduled Caste, despite his conversion to the Mahanubhav faith. 13. Paragraphs 2 and 3 of the Constitution (Scheduled Castes) Order, 1950 also support the view that even after conversion, a person may continue to belong to a caste which has been specified in the Schedule to that Order as a Scheduled Caste. Paragraph 2 provides that the castes specified in the Schedule to the Order shall be deemed to be Sche ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... as reconverted to Hinduism and, therefore, at the material time, he was professing the Hindu religion, so as to satisfy the requirement of Paragraph 3 of the Constitution (Scheduled Castes) Order 1950. 16. The last contention, which formed the subject-matter of controversy between the parties, raised the issue whether on reconversion to Hinduism, the 1st respondent could once again become a member of the Adi Dravida caste, assuming that he ceased to be such on conversion to Christianity. The argument of the appellant was that once the 1st respondent renounced Hinduism and embraced Christianity, he could not go back to the Adi Dravida caste on reconversion to Hinduism. He undoubtedly became a Hindu, but he could no longer claim to be a member of the Adi Dravida caste. This argument is not sound on principle and it also runs counter to a long line of decided cases. Ganapathi Iyer, a distinguished scholar and jurist, pointed out as far back as 1915 in his well-known treatise on 'Hindu Law': ...caste is a social combination, the members of which are enlisted by birth and not by enrolment. People do not join castes or religious fraternities as a matter of choice (in on ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... his life renounced Christianity and performed the rites of expiation enjoined by his caste. The rites of expiation were referred to by the learned Judge because they were enjoined by the Brahmin caste to which the reconvert wanted to be readmitted. But if no rites or;, ceremonies are required to be performed for readmission of a person as a member of the caste, the only thing necessary for readmission would be the acceptance of the person concerned by the other members of the caste. This was pointed out by Varadachariar, J., in Guruswami Nadar v. Irulappa Konar AIR1934Mad639 : where after referring to the aforesaid passage from, Administrator-General of Madras v. Anandachari (supra), the learned Judge said: The language used in (1886) ILR 9 Mad 466 merely refers to the expiatory ceremonies enjoined by the practice of the community in question: and with reference to the class of people we are now concerned with, no suggestion has anywhere been made in the course of the evidence that any particular expiatory ceremonies are observed amongst them. No particular ceremonies are prescribed for them by the Smriti writers nor have they got to perform any Homas. One has therefore ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... s a Christian, the social and economic disabilities arising because of Hindu religion cease and hence it is no longer necessary to give him protection and for this reason he is deemed not to belong to a Scheduled Caste, But when he is reconverted to Hinduism, the social and economic disabilities once again revive and become attached to him because these are disabilities inflicted by Hinduism. A Mahar or a Koli or a Mala would not be recognised as anything but a Mahar or a Koli or a Mala after reconversion to Hinduism and he would suffer from the same social and economic; disabilities from which he suffered before he was converted to another religion. It is, therefore, obvious that the object and purpose of the Constitution (Scheduled Castes) Order, 1950 would be advanced rather than retarded by taking the view that on reconversion to Hinduism, a person can once again become a member of the Scheduled Caste to which he belonged, prior to his conversion. We accordingly agree with the view taken by the High Court that on reconversion to Hinduism, the 1st respondent could once again revert to his original Adi Dravida caste if he was accepted: as such by the other members of the caste ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... was also a temple essentially maintained by the Adi Dravida Hindus and equally, he would not have been Invited to preside at the Adi Krittikai Festival at Mariamman Temple in I, Post Office Block, Marikuppam, K.G.F. where the devotees are Adi Dravidas or to start the procession of the Deity at such festival. These three circumstances are strongly indicative of the fact that the 1st respondent was accepted and treated as a member by the Adi Dravida community. So also does the sixth circumstance that the 1st respondent was a member of the Executive Committee of the Scheduled Caste Cell in the organisation of the Ruling Congress indicate in the same direction. The seventh and eighth circumstances are again of a neutral character. The funeral ceremonies and obsequies of the father of the 1st, respondent would naturally be performed according to the Adi Dravida Hindu rites if he was an Adi Dravida Hindu and that would not mean that the 1st respondent was also an Adi Dravida Hindu. Similarly, the fact that the 1st respondent participated in the first annual ceremonies of the late M.A. Vadivelu would not indicate that the 1st respondent was also an Adi Dravida Hindu like the late M.A Vadi ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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