# BHAIYALAL v. HAROOSHAN SINGH AND OTHERS

- **Citation:** [1965] 2 S.C.R. 877
- **Court:** Supreme Court of India
- **Decided:** 1963-04-23
- **Case number:** Civil Appeal No. 765 of 1964
- **Source:** https://unisonlegal.in/judgment/supreme-court-of-india/bhaiyalal-v-harooshan-singh-and-others-3364
- **Pages:** 7

## Headnote

A
JI
c
D
BHAIYALAL
v.
HAROOSHAN SINGH AND OTHERS
Febnllhy 5, 1965
[P. B. GAJENDRAGADKAR, C.J., K. N. WANCHOO,
M. HIDAYATULLAH, J.C. SHAH AND
s. M. SIKRI, JI.]
877
Constitution of India, Art. 341-Presldtnt of lnd/4-Spocifimtion
of Scheduled caste in relation Jo parts of State-Validity o/-Chamar, If
inc/wled In Dohtu caste.
The appellant's election was challenged inter a/la, on the ground that
bo belonged to the Dohar caste which was not recognised as a Scheduled
Caste for the district in question and so his declaration that he belonged
to the Chamar caste which was a Schedule Caste was improperly and illeplly accepted by the Returning Olli=. The Election Tribunal declared
the election invalid.
The finding was confirmed on appeal by the High
Court. In appeal to the Supreme Court.
HELD: (i) The plea that though the appellant ia not a Chamar u
auch, he can claim the same status by reason of the fa& that he belonged
to Dohar Caste which is a sulxaste of the Chamar ·caste cannot be
acx:epled. An enquiry of thia kind would not be permissible having rep.rd
to the provisions contained in Art. 341 of the Constitution. [881 F-0]
Ba.ravalingappa v. D. Munlcliinnappa, [1965] 1 S.C.R. 316, refened
E
to.
(ii) In specifying castes, races or tribes under Art. 341 of the Conatitution, the President bas been expressly authorised to limit the notiftcation to parts of or groups within the castes, race or tribe, the President
may well come to the conclusion that not the whole caste, race or tribe
but parts of or groups within them should be specified. Similarly the President can specify castes, races or tribes or parts thereof in relation not only
to the entire State, but in relation to the parts of the State where be ia
F
wisfied that the examination of the social and educational backwardneos
of the race, caste or tribe justifies such specification. [882 H-883 CJ

## Text

A
JI
c
D
BHAIYALAL
v.
HAROOSHAN SINGH AND OTHERS
Febnllhy 5, 1965
[P. B. GAJENDRAGADKAR, C.J., K. N. WANCHOO,
M. HIDAYATULLAH, J.C. SHAH AND
s. M. SIKRI, JI.]
877
Constitution of India, Art. 341-Presldtnt of lnd/4-Spocifimtion
of Scheduled caste in relation Jo parts of State-Validity o/-Chamar, If
inc/wled In Dohtu caste.
The appellant's election was challenged inter a/la, on the ground that
bo belonged to the Dohar caste which was not recognised as a Scheduled
Caste for the district in question and so his declaration that he belonged
to the Chamar caste which was a Schedule Caste was improperly and illeplly accepted by the Returning Olli=. The Election Tribunal declared
the election invalid.
The finding was confirmed on appeal by the High
Court. In appeal to the Supreme Court.
HELD: (i) The plea that though the appellant ia not a Chamar u
auch, he can claim the same status by reason of the fa& that he belonged
to Dohar Caste which is a sulxaste of the Chamar ·caste cannot be
acx:epled. An enquiry of thia kind would not be permissible having rep.rd
to the provisions contained in Art. 341 of the Constitution. [881 F-0]
Ba.ravalingappa v. D. Munlcliinnappa, [1965] 1 S.C.R. 316, refened
E
to.
(ii) In specifying castes, races or tribes under Art. 341 of the Conatitution, the President bas been expressly authorised to limit the notiftcation to parts of or groups within the castes, race or tribe, the President
may well come to the conclusion that not the whole caste, race or tribe
but parts of or groups within them should be specified. Similarly the President can specify castes, races or tribes or parts thereof in relation not only
to the entire State, but in relation to the parts of the State where be ia
F
wisfied that the examination of the social and educational backwardneos
of the race, caste or tribe justifies such specification. [882 H-883 CJ
CIVIL APPELLATE JURISDICTION: Civil Appeal No. 765 of
1964.
Appeal by special leave from the judgment and order, dated
G April 23, 1963, of the Madhya Pradesh High Court in First Appeal
No. 24 of 1963.
N. C. Chatterjee, V. S. Sawhney, S. S. Kanjuja and Ganpat
Rai, for the appellant.
G. S. Pathak and Dipak Datta Chaudhry, for respondent No. 1.
H
The Judgment of the Court was delivered by
Gajendragadkar, C.J. This appeal by special leave arises out
of an Election petition filed by respondent No.
1, Harikishan
878
SUPIU!MB COURT REPORTS
[1965] 2 S. C.R.
Singh, challenging the validity of the election of the appellant,
A
'"
Bhaiyalal, in a reserved seat in the Berasia Constituency in the
district of Sehore in Madhya Pradesh. The election in question
was held in February, 1962; at this election the appellant, respondent No. 1, and three others offered themselves as candidates. The
awellant was declared duly elected on the 26th February, 1962
since he had polled the highest number of votes. His next rival B
was respondent No. 1. By this petition, respondent No. 1 challenged the validity of the appellant's election on the ground that the
appellant belonged. to the Dohar caste and was not a Chamar.
The appellant had filed his nomination.paper on the 19th January,
l 962 before the Returning Officer at Sehore and had declared that C
he was a member of the Chamar scheduled caste of the State of
Madhya Pradesh in relation to Sehore district. This declaration
was accepted by the Returning Officer. Respondent No. 1 contended that Dohar caste was not recognised as the scheduled caste
for the district of Sehore and Raisen, and so, the Returning Officer
had improperly and illegally. accepted the declaration of the appelD
!ant as one belonging to tile Chamar scheduled caste. Since the
appellant did not belong to the scheduled caste in question, he
was not entitled to stand for election for the reserved seat in
respect of the said Constituency. This is the basis on which the
validity of the appellant's election was challenged by respondent
No. 1. On the other hand, the appellant urged that the election
E
petition filed by respondent No. 1 was not maintainable inasmuch
as he had not deposited the security of Rs. 2,000 in the manner
preecribed by the statutory rules.
On these pleadings, the Election Tribunal framed appropriate
issues. The first four issues covered the principal contention raised 1
by respondent No. 1 against the validity of the appellant's nomination as a member belonging to the Chamar scheduled caste,
whereas the fifth issue related to the appellant's contention about
the incompetence of the election petition filed by respondent No, 1.
Both parties led evidence in support of their pleas oi;i the principal point of dispute between them. The Election Tribunal conG
sidered the oral evidence adduced by the parties, examined the
documents on which they respectively relied, and found in favour
of respondent No. 1. In regard to the plea raised by the aopel\ant
against the competence of the election petition, the Tribunal found
against him. In the result. the election petition was allowed and
the appellant's election declared invalid.
H
Against this decision of the Election Tribunal, the appellant
preferred an appeal to the Madhya Pradesh High Court. Before
BHAIYALAL v. HARIKISHAN (Gajendragadkar, C.J.)
879
A the High Court, the same two points were urged. The High Court
has confirmed the finding of the Election Tribunal on both the
points. It has held that the election petition filed by respondent
No. 1 was valid and the security deposit was made by him in
accordance with the statutory requirements. On the merits of the
B
c
D
controversy as to whether the appellant was a Chamar by caste
and as such was entitled to be elected for the reserved seat in the
Constituency in question, 'the High Court, in substance,
has
agreed with the conclusion of the Election Tribunal. In consequence, the appeal preferred by the appellant was dismissed on
the 23rd April, 1963. It is .against this decision that the appellant
has come to this Court by special leave.
,On behalf of the appellant Mr. Chatterjee has contended that
the High Court was in error in cQnfirming tho finding of the
Election Tribunal in regard to the caste to which the appellant
belonged. It appears that the appellant's case was that he was a
Dohar Chamar which according to him is a sub-caste of the
Qiamar scheduled caste. He urged that the said sub-caste was
also called 'Mochi'. In support of this plea, the appellant examined
witnesses and produced documen!S, and as we have just indicated,
respondent No. 1 also produced witnesses and examined documents to show that the Dohar caste was distinct from and independent of the Chamar caste and Dohars could not, therefore, claim
E
to be Chamars within the meaning of the Presidential Order.
Thus, the question which arose between the parties for decision
in the present proceedings is a question of fact and on this question .
both the Tribunal and the High Court have made concurrent findings against the appellant. It is true that in reaching their conclusion on this point, the Tribunal as well as the High Court had to
F consider oral as well as documentary evidence; but in cases of this
kind where the Tribunal and the High Court make concurrent
findings on questions of fact, this Court does not usually interfere;
and after hearing Mr. Chatterjee we see no reason to depart from
our usual practice in this matter.
Respondent No. 1 examined 13 witnesses belonging to the
G caste of the appellant. All of them asserted that they did not belong
to the Chamar caste.
According to their evidence, the Dohar
caste was different from the Chamar caste.
There was no intercaste marriage nor even inter-caste dinners between the members
of the said two castes. This evidence shows that Chamars and
Mochis of Schore district lived in mohallas different from the
H
mohallas in which the Dohars lived.
Amongst the witnesses
examined by respondent No. l, the High Court has att~ched
considerable significance to the evidence of Kishanlal, P. W. 4.
880
SUPREME COUAT
R~PORTS
[1965] 2 S.C.R.
He was the Secretary of the Dohar Samaj started by the appellant
A
himself.
The appellant was then the Sirpanch of that Samaj.
It is true that the Samaj did not function for long; but the documents produced by respondent No. 1 to show the constitution of
the S~maj clearly indicate that the appellant had taken a prominent
pai::t .m that matter. Kishanlal's evidence is absolutely clear and
unambiguous.
He has stated on oath that the Dohar and the
B
Chamar castes are entirely different. The Chamars, according to
him, take off skins from dead animals, prepare shoes and do
leather work; the Dohar, said the witness, is not the sub-caste of
Chamar caste; there is no relationship of inter-dining and intermarriage between the two. He denied that the Dohars are called
Mochis.
Mr. Chatterjee has not been able to show any reason
C
why the evidence of this witness should not have been believed
by the High Court.
The witness belongs to the same caste as
the appellant and there is no motive shown why he should take a
false oath in respect of a matter which to persons of his statua
has great significance. It is not likely that a person like Kishanlal
D
would make false statement about his own caste.
In support of his oral evidence, respondent No. 1 produced
certain documents, Exts. P. 2, P. 3, P. 4 and P. 5. These are all
signed by the appellant and they relate to the year 1956. In these
documents, the appellant has described himself as Dohar; in none
of them has he mentioned his caste as.Chamar. Similar is the effect E
of other documents on which respondent No. 1 relied; they are
P. 8, P. 10, P. 11, P. 6, P. 7, P. 9, P. 14, P. 15, P. 17, P. 19, to
P. 27.
In rebuttal the appellant examined himself and his witnesses.
This oriil evidence was intended to show that the Dohar caste is F
the same as Mochi caste and it is a sub-caste of the Chamar caste.
In addition to the oral evidence, the appellant produced 22
documents.
It is true that some of these documents which had
been discarded by the Election Tribunal as unworthy of credence
-0r as irrelevant, have been accepted by the High Court as relevant
and genuine. Even so, the High Court has come to the conclusion G
that these documents do not show satisfactorily that the Dohar
caste is a sub-caste of the Chamar caste. In that connection, the
High Court has pointed out that the documents relied upon by
the appellant do not support his case that the Dohar caste ·is a
sub-caste of the Chamar caste, ·and in that sense, they are not
consistent with the plea made by the appellant in the present proH
ceedings.
We allowed Mr. Chatterjee to take us through the
material evidence;' and on conSidering the said evidence in the
..
BHAIYALAL v. HARJKISHAN (Gajendragadkar, C.J.)
881
A light of the criticism made by Mr. Chatterjee, we are satisfied that
there is no reason to interfere with the concurrent finding recorded
by the Tribunal and the High Court on the main question of fact.
W c must, accordingly, hold that the appellant does not belong to
the Chamar caste and as such was not qualified to contest the
reserved scat for the scheduled caste of Chamars in the ConB stituency in question.
Incidentally, we may point out that the plea that the Dohar
caste is a sub-caste of the Chamar caste cannot be entertained
in the present proceedings in view of the Constitution (Scheduled
Castes) Order, 1950. This Order has been issued by the President
c under Article 341 of the Constitution. Article 341 (1) provides
that the President may with respect to any State or Union territory, and where it is a State, after consultation with the Governor
thereof, by public notification, specify the castes, races or tribes
or parts of or groups within castes, races, or tribes which shall
for the purposes of this Constitution be deemed to be Scheduled
D
Castes in relation to that State or Union territory, as the case
may be. Sub-Article (2) lays down that Parliament may by law
include in or exclude from the list of Scheduled Castes specified
in a notification issued under clause (1) any caste, race or tribe
or part of or group within any caste, race or tribe, but save as
afore5aid a notification issued under the said clause shall not be
E
varied by any subsequent notification.
It is thus clear that in
order to determine whether or not a particular caste is a scheduled
caste within the· meaning of Art. 341, one has to look at the
public notification issued by the President in that behalf. In the
present case, the notification refers to Chamar, Jatav or Mochi,
and so, in dealing with the question in dispute between the parties,
F
the enquiry which the Election Tribunal can hold fa whether or
not tb-: appellant is a Chamar, Jatav or Mochi. The plea that
though the appellant is not a Chamar as such, he can claim the
same status by reason of the fact that he belongs to the Dohar
caste which is a sub-caste of the Chamar caste, cannot be
accepted.
It appears to us that an enquiry of this kind would
G
not be permissible having regard to the provisions contained in
Art. 341. In the case of B. Basavalingappa v. D. Munichinnappa
&: Others,(') this Court had occasion to consider a similar
question. The question which arose for decision in that case was
whether respondent No. 1, though Voddar by caste, belonged to
the scheduled caste of Bhovi mentioned in the Order, and while
H
holding that an enquiry into the said question was permissible,
the Court has elaborately referred to the special and unusual
(I) [196Sj I S.C.R. 316.
882
SUPRBMB COURT RBPOllTS
[1965] 2 S.C.R.
circumstances which justified the High Court in holding that A
V oddar caste was the same as the Bhovi caste within the meaning
of the Order; otherwise the normal rule would be : "it may be
accepted that it is not open to make any modification in the Order
by producing evidence to show, for example, that though caste A
alone is mentioned in the Order, caste B is also a part of caste A
and, therefore, must be deemed to be included in caste A." That
is another reason why the plea made by the appellant that the
Dohar caste is a sub-caste of the Chamar caste and as such must
be deemed to be included in the Order, cannot be accepted.
B
Whilst we are referring to this aspect of the matter, we may
point out that the Order has taken good care to specify different C
castes under the same heading where enquiry showed that the
same caste bore different names, or it had sub-castes which were
entitled to be treated as scheduled castes for the purposes of the
Order. In the district of Datia, for instance, entry 3 refers to
Chamar, Ahirwar, Chamar Mangan, Mochi or Raidas. Similarly,
in respect of Maharashtra, Item 1, entries 3 and 4 refer to the D
same castes by different names which shows either that the said
castes are known differently or consist of different sub-castes.
- Likewise, item 2, entry 4 in the said list refers to Cha mar, Chamari,
Mochi, Nona, Rohidas, Ramnami, Satnami, Surjyabanshi or
Surjyaramnami.
It is also remarkable that in Maharashtra in
certain districts Chambhar and Dhor are included in the list E
separately. Therefore, we do not think that Mr. Chatterjee can
seriously quarrel with the conclusion of the High Court that the
appellant has not shown that he belongs to the Chamar caste which
has been shown in the Order as a scheduled caste in respect of
the Constituency in question.
F
Mr. Chatterjee attempted to argue that it was not competent
to the President to specify the lists of Scheduled Castes by
reference to different districts or sub-areas of the States.
His
argument was that what the President can do under Art. 341 (1)
is to specify the castes, races or tribes or parts thereof, but tb~t
must be done in relation to the entire State or the Union territory,
G
as the case may be.
In other words, says Mr. Chatterjee, the
President cannot divide the State into different districts or subareas and specify the castes, races or tribes for the purpose of
Art. 341 (1). In our opinion, there is no substance in this argument. The object of Art. 341 (1) plainly is to provide additional
protection to the members of the Scheduled Castes having regard H
to the economic and educational backwardness from which they
suffer.
It is obvious that in specifying castes, races or tribes,
I
BHAIYALAL v. HARIKISHAN (Gajendragadkar, C.J.)
883
A
the President has been expressly authorised to limit the notification
tO parts of or groups within the castes, races or tribes, and that
must mean that after examining the educational and social back-
~
of a caste, race or tribe, the President may well come
to the conclusion that not the whole caste, race or tribe but parts
of or groups within them should be specified.
Similarly, the
B
President can specify castes, races or tribes or parts thereof in
relation not only to the entire State, but in relation to parts of the
State where he is satisfied that the examination of the social and
education are backwardness of the race, caste or tribe justifies such
specification. In fact, it is well-known that before a notification
is issued under Art. 341 (1 ), an elaborate enquiry is made and it
C
is as a result of this enquiry that social justice is sought to be
done to the. castes, races or tribes as may appear to be necessary,
and in doing justice, it would obviously be expedient not only
to specify parts or groups of castes, races or tribes, but to make
the said specification by reference to different areas in the State.
Educational and social backwardness in regard to these castes,
D
race& or tribes may not be uniform or of the same intensity in the
whole of the State; it may vary in degree or in kind in di11erent
areas and that may justify the division of the State into convenient
and suitable areas for the purpose of issuing the public notification
in quastion.
Therefor~ Mr. Chatterjee is in error when he
E
contends that the notification issued by the President by reference
to the different areas is outside his authority under Art. 341 (1).
The result is, the appeal fails and is dismissed with costs.
Appeal dismi~sed.