CASE- Principal, Guntur Medical College, Guntur Vs. Y.

Mohan Rao
Equivalent Citations- 1976 AIR 1904, 1976 SCR(3)1046. Date of Judgement- 06/04/1976. BenchBHAGWATI, P.N. RAY, A.N.(CJ) GUPTA, A.C. FAZAL ALI, SYED MURTAZA SINGH, JASWANT.

Judgement Delivered By- BHAGWATI,J.

Facts of the Case1. The parents of the respondent originally professed Hindu Religion and belonged to the Madiga caste which is a scheduled caste, in the Andhra Pradesh as specifies in the schedule to the Constitution (Scheduled Castes) Order, 1950. 2. Respondents parents were converted to Christianity and thereafter the respondent was born. 3. The respondent got himself converted to Hinduism renouncing Christianity. 4. 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 was subsequently informed by the Principal of the Guntur College that his selection was cancelled as he was not a Hindu by Birth.

5. The principal took this action relying on Note (b) to the clause (c) of Rule 2 issued by the Government of Andhra Pradesh for admission to the M.B.B.S course in Government Medical College. 6. The respondent filed a Writ Petition in the High Court Challenging the validity of Note(b) as going beyond the scope of Constitution(Scheduled Castes) order, 1950 and thereby void and that the Principal was not entitled to cancel his admission on the ground that he was not a Hindu or a member of Scheduled caste by Birth.

Brief statement of the proceedings and the appeals preferredThis case was initially instituted in the Andhra Pradesh High Court as a Writ petition whereby, the respondent( Y.Mohan Rao), acting as a petitioner in High Court, challenged the validity of Note(b) as going beyond the scope of Constitution(Scheduled Castes) order, 1950. He succeeded before the learned Single Judge as well as the Learned Division Bench of the High Court. Thereafter, the appeal has been brought to the Supreme Court as a Special Leave Petition under Article 136 of the Constitution of India.

JudgementThe only question which arose 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 re-conversion 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 admission to a Medical College. The respondent has stated in the petition that he was born after the conversion of his parents and thereby he was born of Christian parents. In the state of Andhra Pradesh, for the purpose inter alia of admission to medical college, converts to the Christianity are treated as belonging to the backward class. The respondent was informed by the Principal, Guntur College that his selection was cancelled as he is not a Hindu by Birth. The principal relied on Note (b) to clause (C) of rule 2 of the Rules issued by the Government of Andhra Pradesh,

which was in following termsSchedule caste except by birth.

No candidate other than Hindu including a

Sikh can claim to belong to schedule castes. No candidates can claim to belong to the

The respondent challenged the validity of the above note on the ground of it going beyond the scope of Constitution( Scheduled Castes) order, 1950and was therefore, void. The single as well as the division bench of the High Court were of the same view and accepted the ground mentioned by the respondent. The special leave is also granted on the condition that whatever be the result of the appeal, the admission of the respondent will not be disturbed and that State will, in any event, pay the costs of the respondent. It is clear from the plain reading of the clause (4) of Art.15 of the Constitution 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 the members of Scheduled castes without violating Art. 15 or Cl.(2)of Art. 29. The expression Scheduled caste has a technical meaning given to it by Cl.(24) of Art. 366 and it means such castes, races or tribes or parts of or groups within caste, races or tribes as are deemed under Article 341 to be Scheduled caste for the purposes of the Constitution. The President in exercise of his power conferred under Article 341 issued the Constitution (Scheduled Castes) order, 1950., paragraph (3) is relevant which reads as followsNotwithstanding anything contained in Para 2, no person who professes a religion different from the Hindu or the Sikh religion shall be deemed to be a member of a Schedule Caste. The schedule to this Order in part I sets out the castes, races or tribes or parts of or groups within castes or tribes which shall in different areas of State of Andhra Pradesh be deemed to be scheduled castes and Madiga Caste is specified in it. But, a person belonging to Madiga caste would not be deemed to be a member of 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. So, the interpretation of the Principal in this context was erroneous. The argument of the appellants that on conversion to Hinduism, the respondent didnt automatically become the member of Madiga caste and it was open to the members of Madiga caste to accept him within their fold and if he was so accepted, that he could claim to

have become a member of Madiga caste. But, there was no such evidence in the present case which shows the respondent was so accepted by the Madiga caste. Here, Supreme Court took the reference of the decision in the case- C.M.Arumugamr Vs. S. Rajgopal. In this case, the main question which arose was whether S Rajgopal, who belonged to Adi Dravida caste before his conversion to Christianity could, on reconversion again become a member of Adi Dravida caste. The decision was that 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 members. The reason on which decision proceeded is equally applicable in the case. It is for the members of the caste to decide whether or not to admit a person within the caste. Since the caste is the caste is the social combination for persons governed by its rules and regulations , it may admit a new person. The view would have required to find out 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 other members of that caste, for it is only if he was so accepted, he could laim to be a member of schedule caste. But there is no need for such inquiry because it has already been agreed by the state that, whatever be the result of the appeal, the admission of the respondent will not be disturbed. The appeal is accordingly dismissed with costs in favour of the respondent.