'Doesn't belong to Scheduled Tribe, by birth': Karnataka High Court denies relief to sacked Gram Panchayat member from reserved constituency

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The Karnataka High Court recently refused to entertain a writ petition moved by a married woman against the order of the Election Tribunal removing her from the membership of the Gram Panchayat from a constituency reserved for Schedule Tribe on ground of lack of social status. 

Stressing that there was no dispute as to the woman did not belong to Scheduled Tribe by birth, though she had claimed to have acquired the said social status by marriage to a member of the scheduled tribe, the bench of Justice Krishna S Dixit observed,

"Ordinarily, caste is determined by birth and caste of a person follows that of his/her father. That is why Mahabharath states: "daivaa yatnam kule janma, purushaa yatnam pourusham". True it is, in rare circumstances a lady acquires the caste status of her husband provided she pleads and proves her admission to the community of the husband by social acceptance."

Observing thus, Court noted that the same was not the case put forth by the woman in the court below in her objection to the election petition and held that "such a plea now being taken in the writ petition was only an afterthought and could not be accepted as the pleadings in the election petition."

The woman had challenged the order passed by the Additional Senior Civil Judge, Shivamogga in the Election Petition filed by one Smt. Abhilasha (the first respondent) whereby she had been unseated from the Gram Panchayat Membership on the basis of lack of social status. She had also alleged that she had not been given a proper opportunity by the Election Tribunal to plead her case. 

However, Court noted that the woman herself had appeared in the matter once, and thrice adjournment was granted because she concurrently remained absent. 

Therefore, stressing that the woman was an elected representative of people and not a peasant or a laborer who can seek leniency in matters like this, Court refused to grant relief to her and rejected her plea finding it devoid of merit. 

Case Title: Smt. Archana M G v. Smt. Abhilasha and Ors.