Full Judgment Text
http://JUDIS.NIC.IN SUPREME COURT OF INDIA Page 1 of 6
PETITIONER:
PRINCIPAL, GUNTUR MEDICAL COLLEGE, GUNTUR
Vs.
RESPONDENT:
Y.MOHAN RAO
DATE OF JUDGMENT06/04/1976
BENCH:
BHAGWATI, P.N.
BENCH:
BHAGWATI, P.N.
RAY, A.N. (CJ)
GUPTA, A.C.
FAZALALI, SYED MURTAZA
SINGH, JASWANT
CITATION:
1976 AIR 1904 1976 SCR (3)1046
1976 SCC (3) 411
ACT:
Constitution of India-Articles 15(4) 29(2), 341,
366(24) Constitution (Scheduled Castes) order 1950-scheduled
Caste- A Hindu belonging to a Scheduled Caste-Whether ceases
to belong to Scheduled Caste on conversion to Christianity.
On reconversion whether he regains membership of Scheduled
Caste-Whether n person must belong to Scheduled Caste by
birth.
HEADNOTE:
The parents of the respondent originally professed
Hindu religion and belonged to Madiga caste which is a
scheduled caste, in the Andhra Pradesh as specified in the
schedule to the Constitution (Scheduled Castes) order, 1950.
Respondent’s parents were converted to Christianity and
thereafter the respondent was born. The respondent got
himself converted to Hinduism renouncing Christianity.
Thereafter, he applied for admission to Guntur Medical
College on the basis that he was a member of a Scheduled
Caste. He was provisionally selected for admission but
subsequently was informed by the principal the College that
his selection was cancelled as he was not a Hindu by birth.
The Principal relied on Note (b) to Clause of rule 2 of the
Rules issued by the Government of Andhra Pradesh for
admission to the M.B.B.S. course in Government Medical
College. The said note provides that no candidate other than
Hindu can claim to belong to Scheduled Caste. It further
provides that no candidate can belong to Scheduled Caste
except by birth.
The respondent filed a Writ Petition in the High Court
challenging the validity of Note (b) as going beyond the
scope of the Constitution (Scheduled Castes) order, 1950.
The respondent succeeded before the learned single Judge as
well as the Division Bench of the High Court. In fact, it
was conceded by the appellant before the High Court that
note (b) was repugnant to the said order.
Dismissing the appeal by Special Leave,
^
HELD: 1. It is clear on a plain reading of clause 4 of
http://JUDIS.NIC.IN SUPREME COURT OF INDIA Page 2 of 6
Article 15 that the State has power to make special
provision for scheduled castes and in exercise of its power
the State can reserve seats in a Medical College for members
of Scheduled Castes without violating Article 15 or Article
29(2). Article 366(24) defines Scheduled Castes to mean such
castes, races or tribes as are deemed under Article 341 to
be scheduled castes. The President in exercise of the powers
conferred upon him under Article 341 has issued Constitution
(Scheduled Castes) order 1950. Madiga caste is included in
the schedule to the said order. The said order itself,
however, provides that no person who. professes a religion
other than Hindu or Sikh shall be deemed to be a member of a
scheduled caste. It, however, does not require that the
should have been born a Hindu or a Sikh. The only thing
required is that at the material time he should profess
Hindu or Sikh religion. The requirement of the note that a
candidate in order to be eligible for a reserved seat should
be a member of a Scheduled Caste by birth went beyond the
said order and was rightly condemned as void. [1049B-H,
1050A]
2. There is no absolute rule applicable in all cases
that whenever a member of a caste is converted from Hinduism
to Christianity he loses his membership of the caste. It
would depend upon r the structure of the caste and its rules
and regulations. There are some castes,
1047
particularly ill South India, where this consequence does
not follow on conversion since such castes comprise both
Hindus and Christians. Whether Madiga caste falls in this
category is a debatable question. For the purposes of the
present appeal it is not necessary to decide the contention
of the respondent that there are both Hindus and Christians
in Madiga caste and even after conversion to Christianity
his parents continued to belong to Madiga caste. [1050-C-F]
3. A similar question about the effect of re-conversion
was decided by this Court in the case of C. R. Arumugam vs.
S. Rajagopal. In that case this Court laid down that there
is no reason to hold that a person on reconversion to
Hinduism cannot once again become a member of the caste in
which he was born and to which he belonged before conversion
to another religion. The reasoning on which this decision
proceeded is equally applicable will a cause where the
parents of a person are converted from Hinduism to
Christianity and he is born after their conversion and on
his subsequent embraching Hinduism, the members of the caste
to which the parents belong prior to their conversion accept
him as a member within the fold. It is for the members of
the caste to decide whether or not to admit a person within
the caste. Since the caste is a social combination of
persons governed by its rules and regulations, it may, if
its rules and regulations so provide, admit a new member
just as it may expel an existing member. The only
requirement for admission of a person as a member of the
caste is the acceptance of the reason by the other members
of the caste. On conversion to Hinduism a person would not
become a member of the caste to which his parents belonged
prior to their conversion, automatically or as a matter of
course but he would become such member if the other members
of the caste accept him as a members and admit him within
the fold. [1050G, 1051B-E]
There is nothing on record to show whether the
respondent was accepted by Madiga caste. However, it is not
necessary to undertake this enquiry because it has been
agreed by the appellants that whatever be the result of the
appeal, the admission of the respondent would not be
http://JUDIS.NIC.IN SUPREME COURT OF INDIA Page 3 of 6
disturbed. [1051-FG]
JUDGMENT:
CIVlL APPELLATE JURISDICTION: Civil Appeal No. 984 of
1975.
Appeal by Special Leave from the judgment and Order
dated the 10th February 1975 of the Andhra Pradesh High
Court in W.A. No. 752 of 1974.
P. Ramachandra Reddy, Advocate General, A.P., P. P. Rao
and V. Seetharaman, for the appellant.
R. C. Raghavan, G. Vedanta Rao and B. Kanta Rao, for
the respondent.
The Judgment of the Court was delivered by
BHAGWATI, J. The short question that arises for
determination, in this appeal is whether a person whose
parents belonged to a Scheduled Caste before their
conversion to Christianity can on conversion or reconversion
to Hinduism, be regarded as a member of the Scheduled Caste
so as to be eligible for the benefit of reservation of seats
for Scheduled Castes in the matter of a admission to a
medical college.
The parents of the respondent originally professed
Hindu religion and belonged to Madiga caste which is
admittedly a caste deemed to be a Scheduled Caste in the
State of Andhra Pradesh as specified in Part I of the
Schedule to the Constitution (Scheduled Castes) Order, 1950.
They were both converted to Christianity at some point of
time
1048
which does not appear clearly from the record, but it was
the case of the respondent in his Writ Petition that he was
born after their conversion. This was also the assumption on
which the arguments proceeded before the High Court and
before us, too. The counsel or the respondent expressed his
readiness to argue the case on the same assumption, namely,
that the respondent was born after the conversion of his
parents, or, in other words, he was born of Christian
parents. It appears that in the State of Andhra Pradesh, for
the purpose inter alia of admission to medical college,
converts to Christianity are treated as belonging to
backward class and, therefore, when the respondent applied
for admission to Gandhi Medical College in 1973, he
described himself as a member of a backward class. But he
did not succeed in getting admission. Thereupon he got
himself converted to Hinduism on 20th September, 1973 from
Andhra Pradesh Arunchatiya Sangham stating that he had
renounced Christianity and embraced Hinduism after going
through Suddhi ceremony and he was thereafter "received back
into Madiga caste of Hindu fold". On the strength of this
certificate, claiming to be a‘ member of Madiga caste, the
respondent applied for admission to Guntur Medical College
and on the basis that he was a member of a Scheduled Caste,
he was provisionally selected for admission. But
subsequently he was informed by the Principal of the Medical
College that his selection was cancelled as he was not a
Hindu by birth. The Principal apparently relied on Note (b)
to clause (C) of rule 2 of the Rules issued by the
Government of Andhra Pradesh under GO Rt. No. 1315 dated 4th
December, 1973 for admission to the M.B.B.S. Course in
Government Medical Colleges for the Academic year 1973-74.
This Note was in the following terms:
"No candidate other than Hindu including a Sikh
can claim to belong to Schedule Castes. No candidates
http://JUDIS.NIC.IN SUPREME COURT OF INDIA Page 4 of 6
can claim to belong to the Scheduled Caste except by
birth."
The respondent thereupon preferred a writ petition in the
High Court of Andhra Pradesh challenging the validity of
cancellation of his admission on the ground that Note (b),
which required that a candidate, in order to be eligible or
a seat reserved for Scheduled Caste, should belong to a
Scheduled Caste by birth, went beyond the scope of the
Constitution (Scheduled Castes) order, 1950 and was,
therefore, void and the Principal was not entitled to cancel
his admission on the ground that he was not a Hindu or a
member of a Scheduled Caste by birth. This ground of
challenge was accepted by a Single Judge of the High Court
and on appeal, a Division Bench of the High Court also took
the same view. In fact, it was conceded before the Division
Bench by the learned Government Pleader appearing on behalf
of the State that Note (b) was repugnant to the provisions
of cl. (3) of the Constitution (Scheduled Castes) order,
1950, since the only requirement of that clause was that in
order to be a member of a Scheduled Caste, person should be
professing Hindu or Sikh religion and it did not prescribe
that he should be a Hindu by birth. The State did not
succeed in obtaining leave to appeal from the High Court and
hence it preferred a special leave petition to this Court.
When the special leave petition came up for hearing, there
was no decision of
1049
this Court dealing with the question as to whether a convert
or reconvert to Hinduism can become a member of a Scheduled
Caste and of so, in what circumstances and hence we granted
special leave to the State, on the State agreeing that
whatever be the result of the appeal, the admission of the
respondent will not be disturbed and that the State will, in
any event, pay the costs of the respondent. It may be
pointed out that since then a decision on this question has
been rendered by a Bench of three judges of this Court to
which we shall refer later.
It is clear on a plain reading of clause (4) of Art. 15
that the State has power to make special provision for
scheduled Castes and in exercise of this power, the State
can reserve seats in a medical college for members of
Scheduled Castes without violating Art. 1 S or cl. (2) of
Art. 29. The expression ’Scheduled Castes’ has a technical
meaning given to it by cl. (24) of Art. 366 and it means
"such castes, races or tribes or parts or groups within such
castes, races or tribes as are deemed under article 341 to
be Scheduled Castes for the purposes of this Constitution."
The President in exercise of the power conferred upon him
under Art. 341 has issued the Constitution (Scheduled
Castes) order, 1950. paragraphs (2) and (3) of this; order
are material and they read as follows:
"2. Subject to the provisions of this order, the
castes, races or tribes or parts of or groups
within caste or tribes specified in Part I to XIII
of the Schedule to this order shall, in relation
to the States to which these parts respectively
relate, be deemed to be scheduled castes so far as
regards members thereof resident in the localities
specified in relation to them in those Parts of
that Schedule.
3. Notwithstanding anything contained in Paragraph 2,
no. person who professes a religion different from
the Hindu or the Sikh religion shall be deemed to
be a member of a Scheduled Caste." F
The Schedule to this Order in part I sets out the castes,
http://JUDIS.NIC.IN SUPREME COURT OF INDIA Page 5 of 6
races or tribes or parts of or groups within castes or
tribes which shall in the different areas of the State of
Andhra Pradesh be deemed to be Scheduled Castes. One of the
castes specified there is Madiga caste and that caste must,
therefore, be deemed to be a Scheduled Caste. But by reason
of c]. (3), a person belonging to Madiga caste would not be
deemed to be a member of a Scheduled Caste unless he
professes Hindu or Sikh religion at the relevant time. It is
not necessary that he should have been born a Hindu or a
Sikh. The only thing required is that he should at the
material time be professing Hindu or Sikh religion. Now,
Note (b) was interpreted by the Principal of the Medical
College to require that a candidate, in order to be eligible
for a seat reserved for Scheduled Castes, should be a Hindu
by birth. This interpretation was plainly erroneous because
what Note (b) required was not that a candidate should be a
Hindu by birth but that
1050
he should belong to a Scheduled Caste by birth. But even
this requirement that a candidate in order to be eligible
for a reserved seat should be a member of a Scheduled Caste
by birth went beyond the provision in cl. (3) of the
Constitution (Scheduled Castes order. 1950 and was rightly
condemned as void and no reliance was placed upon it on
behalf of the State.
The principal argument advanced on behalf of the State
was that when the respondent was converted to Hinduism, he
did not automatically become a member of the Madiga caste,
out it was open to the members of the Madiga caste to accept
him within their fold and it was only if he was so accepted,
that he could claim to have become a member of the Madiga
caste. There was no evidence in the present case, contended
the State, showing that the respondent, on his conversion to
Hinduism, was accepted as a member of the Madiga caste by
the other members of that caste and, therefore, he was not
at the time of his application for admission a member of a
Scheduled caste
Now, before we proceed to consider this contention, it
is necessary to point out that there is no absolute rule
applicable in all cases that whenever a member of a caste is
converted from Hinduism to Christianity, he loses his
membership of the caste. This question has been considered
by this Court in C. M. Arumugam v. S. Rajgopal and it has
been pointed out there that ordinarily it is true that on
conversion to Christianity, a person would cease to be a
member of the caste to which he belongs, but that is not an
invariable rule. It would depend on the structure of the
caste and its rules and regulations. There are some castes,
particularly in South India, where this consequence does not
follow on conversion, since such castes comprise both Hindus
and Christians. Whether Madiga is a caste which falls within
this category is a debatable question. The contention of the
respondent in his writ petition was that mere are both
Hindus and Christians in Madiga caste and even after
conversion to Christianity, his parents continued to belong
to Madiga caste and he was, therefore, a member of Madiga
caste right from the time of his birth. It is not necessary
for the purpose of the present appeal to decide this
question. We may assume that, on conversion to Christianity,
the parents of the respondent lost their membership of
Madiga caste and that the respondent was, therefore, not a
Madiga by birth. The question is: could the respondent
become a member of Madiga caste on conversion to Hindusim ?
That is a question on which considerable light is thrown by
the decision of this Court in C. M. Arumugam v. S. Rajgopal
http://JUDIS.NIC.IN SUPREME COURT OF INDIA Page 6 of 6
(supra).
The main question which arose for decision in C. M.
Arumugamr v. S. RaJgopal (supra) was whether S. Raigopal,
who belonged to Adi Dravida caste before his conversion to
Christianity, could, on reconversion to Hinduism once again
become a member of the Adi Dravida caste. This Court, after
examining the question on principle and referring to the
decided cases, pointed out that the consistent view taken in
this country since 1886 was that on reconversion to
1051
Hinduism, a person can once again become a member of the
caste in which he was born and to which he belonged before
conversion to another religion, if the members of the caste
accept him as a member. This Court observed that there was
no reason, either on principle or on authority, which should
compel it to disregard this view which has prevailed for
almost a century and lay down a different rule on the
subject and concluded that on reconversion to Hinduism, S.
Rajgopal could once again revert to his Adi Dravida caste,
for he was accepted by the other members of the caste.
The reasoning on which this decision proceeded is
equally applicable in a case where the parents of a person
are converted from Hinduism to Christianity and he is born
after their conversion and on his subsequently embracing
Hinduism, the members of the caste to which the parents
belonged prior to their conversion accept him as a member
within the fold. It is for the members of the caste to
decide whether or not to admit a person within the caste.
Since the caste is a social combination of persons governed
by its rules and regulations, it may, if its rules and
regulations so provide, admit a new member just as it may
expel an existing member. The only requirement for admission
of a person as a member of the caste is the acceptance of
the person by the other members of the caste, for, as
pointed out by Krishnaswami Ayyangar, J., in Durgaprasada
Rao v. Sudarsanaswami,"in matters affecting the well being
or composition of a caste, the caste itself is the supreme
judge". (emphasis supplied). It will, therefore, be seen
that on conversion to Hinduism, a person born of Christian
converts would not become a member of the caste to which his
parents belonged prior to their conversion to Christianity,
automatically or as a matter of course, but he would become
such member, if the other members of the caste accept him as
a member and admit him within the fold.
This view would have ordinarily required us to find
whether, on the material on record, it could be said to have
been established by the respondent that, on conversion to
Hinduism, he was accepted as a member of Madiga caste by the
other members of that caste, for it is only if he was so
accepted that he could claim to be a member of a Scheduled
Caste. But it is not necessary for us to undertake this
inquiry because, as already pointed out, it has been agreed
by the State that, whatever be the result of this appeal,
the admission of the respondent will not be disturbed.
We accordingly dismiss the appeal with costs in favour
of the respondent.
P.H.P. Appeal dismissed.
1052