SC/ST person from one State cannot claim SC/ST benefits in another State: Supreme Court

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The Supreme Court on 5-01-2022 held that a person belonging to a Scheduled Caste (SC) or Scheduled Tribe (ST) community in one State is not entitled to claim the privileges and benefits admissible to persons belonging to such SC/ ST community in another State [Bhadar Ram vs Jassa Ram].

The said piece of land was allotted to the father of the respondent in 1972 as a Scheduled Caste landless person. This person after he got the land borrowed some money from a person. The said lender, a person belonging to the Jat caste, duped him by making him sign a sale deed in favour of the appellant, one Bhadar Ram who was from Punjab and belonged to the SC community.

What followed was a maze of legal cases to get the land back. The last case was before a Division Bench of the Rajasthan High Court which set aside the single judge order and held that the resident being an SCA person belonging to the State of Punjab, could not have taken the benefit of the same in the State of Rajasthan.

The Court noted that this issue has been conclusively settled in the case of of Marri Chandra Shekar Rao Vs. Dean, Seth G.S. Medical College & Ors and the Action Committee case.

In Marri Chandra Shekhar Rao case, it was held that the social condition of a State varies from State to State and it will not be proper to generalize any caste or tribe as SC/ST for the whole country.