Centre seeks Uttarakhand’s reply over plaint on caste list amendment

DEHRADUN: After a 23-year-old woman from Haridwar wrote to the President, Prime Minister's Office and Union ministry of social justice and empowerment , alleging that the Uttarakhand government “violated Article 341 of the Constitution by amending the number of castes falling under the list of Scheduled Castes, despite the constitutional provision that it is a prerogative of the Parliament and the President,” the Centre has sought a reply from the state.
The woman, identified as Meenu, a resident of Sikroda village in Bhagwanpur tehsil of Haridwar district, in her letter written on February 3, with the help of her counsel Raj Kumar, stated, “Because of the violation of Article 341, the President should dissolve the state government due to failure of state machinery and impose President's rule under Article 356 of the Constitution.”
TOI has a copy of the letter and the written communications between the Centre and the state on the matter.
“The state government on December 16, 2013 had added 38 castes as sub-castes of Shilpkar caste in the SC list. This amendment was in clear violation of Article 341 ” Kumar told TOI.
Meenu, who belongs to the SC community, also alleged that the list included “many castes which were in the Other Backward Classes (OBS) list.” “Such castes include ‘Lohar’ which falls under the OBC list. But now, it falls both under the SC list as well as the OBC list. As a result, members of the 38 sub-castes included in the SC list are now also availing SC certificate from the state, which is illegal,” she added.