MADURAI: The Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court on Tuesday sought counter affidavit from the central and state governments and the Tamil Nadu State Commission for Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribes, in a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) petition seeking the inclusion of all 28 sub-castes of Kuravar community under the ST category.
The litigant P Ravanan alias Ramkumar, who is the state deputy secretary of Protection of Tamil Tribes wing of the Naam Tamilar Katchi (NTK), submitted that out of the 28 sub-castes of Kuravar community, 26 have been classified as denotified community (DC). Only one sub caste — Sidhanar — comes under SC category and another subcaste Malaikuravars has been classified as ST, he added.
Ravanan argued that the people of the said community are mostly nomads and they cannot compete with the other castes in the DC category for educational seats and government jobs. Relying on the anthropological report of Dr Jakka Parthasarathy, cultural anthropologist and director-in-charge of the tribal research centre in Udhagamandalam, which recommended inclusion of all sub-castes of the said community under Scheduled Tribes, Ravanan requested the court to direct the government to take necessary steps for the same.
A bench comprising justices J Nisha Banu and S Srimathy directed the authorities concerned to file a counter affidavit and adjourned the case by two weeks.