Can’t caste certificate use other names, still ensuring rights? SC to Centre

The Supreme Court on 24 February, Monday, asked the Centre to consider changing the nomenclature but retain the character of rights of persons from the Scheduled Castes category to avoid using certain terms in the caste certificates issued to them.

A bench of justices Surya Kant and N. Kotiswar Singh agreed that it was for Parliament to decide on the issue, but said changing the nomenclature would go a long way in stopping persons from being identified by names of their castes.

"Our country has come a long way from 1950 to 2025. Now, in 2025 it is not advisable to use these words and expressions. Yes, it is purely a legislative issue and we have issued notice for the simple reason of sensitising the Centre about the issue.

"You can change the nomenclature without changing the character of these persons. Hindi has got a very rich vocabulary. You can use anything but these words," the bench said.

Additional solicitor general K.M. Nataraj, appearing for the Centre, said it was a policy decision and removal of these words might affect their rights and benefits extended to them because of being in the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes categories.

Justice Surya Kant said no one was seeking removal of the words but renaming them, and the court only wanted Parliament to take cognisance of the issue.

"If I was the advocate general and if I had to advise the government, then I would have suggested the use of words like Bamiki-1, Balmiki-2 and Balmiki-3, etc. Even Mahatma Gandhi coined a word like ‘Harijan’ for people of the Scheduled Caste category. They need not be deprived of their rights by changing the nomenclature," Justice Surya Kant.

Advocate Harish Pandey, appearing for the NGO Akhil Bhartiya Gihara Samaj Parishad, said the authorities could issue general certificates of SC/ST categories without mentioning any sub-castes.

The bench posted the matter after six weeks and asked the Centre to examine the issue.

The Centre in its affidavit said the first list of Scheduled Castes in relation to a state/union territory was by a notified order of the President of India and any subsequent inclusion, exclusion and other modifications in said list could only be made by an Act of Parliament.

It said the Indian society historically had a rigid, occupation-based, hierarchical caste system in which the relative place of a caste in the social hierarchy was determined largely by its traditional occupation.

"The list of Scheduled Castes drawn [up] in 1950 was a revised version of the list of Scheduled Castes under the Government of India (Scheduled Castes) Order, 1936, made under the Government of India Act, 1935, which, in turn, was the continuation of the earlier list of Depressed Classes," the Centre said.

The Centre said the President, in exercise of the powers conferred by Clause (1) of Article 341 of the Constitution, made six orders from 1950 to 1978, specifying certain castes and communities as Scheduled Castes in relation to various states and union territories.

To date, 1,258 castes/communities have been specified as Scheduled Castes in relation to 26 states and 6 union territories.

The government's affidavit said members of 'Chuhra', 'Bhangi', 'Chamar', and 'Kanjar' communities would not be eligible to get Scheduled Caste certificates in the name of 'Balmiki', 'Jatav', or 'Giarah' castes, respectively.

On 18 November 2024, the top court issued notice to the Centre on a plea that sought its direction for the government to not to use certain words and replace those words in the caste certificates.

The plea spoke of the words that are now used by the general public or common people as words of insults, abuse and terms of disdain, words that are offensive nowadays.