SPECIFICATION OF CLASSES‌

The Constitution does not specify the castes or tribes which are to be called the SCs or the STs. It leaves to the President the power to specify as to what castes or tribes in each state and union territory are to be treated as the SCs and STs. Thus, the lists of the SCs or STs vary from state to state and union territory to union territory. In case of the states, the President issues the notification after consulting the governor of the state concerned. But, any inclusion or exclusion of any caste or tribe from Presidential notification can be done only by the Parliament and not by a subsequent Presidential notification. Presidents have issued several orders specifying the SCs and STs in different states and union territories and these have also been amended by the Parliament.1

Similarly, the constitution has not specified the classes of citizens who are to be called the socially and educationally backward classes, also known as Other Backward Classes (OBCs). The 102nd Amendment Act of 2018 empowered the President to specify the socially and educationally backward classes in relation to a state or union territory. In case of a state, the President issues the notification after consultation with the governor of the state concerned. But, any inclusion in or exclusion from the Central List of socially and educationally backward classes specified in a Presidential notification can be done only by the Parliament and not by a subsequent Presidential notification2 . Unlike in the case of SCs, STs and OBCs, the Constitution has defined the persons who belong to the Anglo-Indian community. Accordingly, 'an Anglo-Indian means a person whose father or any of whose other male progenitors in the male line is or was of European descent but who is domiciled within the territory of India and is or was born within such territory of parents habitually resident therein and not established there for temporary purposes

only’.