CHENNAI: The Madras High Court has sought a reply from the state government about how the Scheduled Tribes community certificates were issued to the Malayali tribes residing in Erode even though it is not in the list of districts where Malayali tribes are declared as STs.
The first bench of Chief Justice Manindra Mohan Shrivastava and Justice G Arul Murugan granted four week time to the state government to file the reply while hearing the petitions seeking a direction to the authorities to issue ST certificates to the petitioners who belong to Malayali tribe in Erode. The certificates were sought against the background of the state government recommending the centre to declare the Malayali tribes of Erode as STs.
The bench pointed out that upon perusal of the state ST list, it was found that the Malayali community has been added to the list and it is confined to the persons belonging to the community who are permanent residents of Dharmapuri, North Aroct (Vellore), Pudukottai, Salem, South Arcot (Cuddalore) and Tiruchirapalli. This does not include Erode.