Civil Appeal No 984 of 1975
Appeal by Special Leave from the judgment and Order dated the 10th February 1975 of the Andhra Pradesh High Court in WA No 752 of 1974
P Ramachandra Reddy Advocate General AP P P Rao and V Seetharaman for the appellant
R C Raghavan G Vedanta Rao and B Kanta Rao for the respondent
The Judgment of the Court was delivered by BHAGWATI J
The short question that arises for determination in this appeal is whether a person whose parents belonged to a Scheduled Caste before their conversion to Christianity can on conversion or reconversion to Hinduism be regarded as a member of the Scheduled Caste so as to be eligible for the benefit of reservation of seats for Scheduled Castes in the matter of a admission to a medical college
The parents of the respondent originally professed Hindu religion and belonged to Madiga caste which is admittedly a caste deemed to be a Scheduled Caste in the State of Andhra Pradesh as specified in Part I of the Schedule to the Constitution Scheduled Castes Order 1950
They were both converted to Christianity at some point of time 1048 which does not appear clearly from the record but it was the case of the respondent in his Writ Petition that he was born after their conversion
This was also the assumption on which the arguments proceeded before the High Court and before us too
The counsel or the respondent expressed his readiness to argue the case on the same assumption namely that the respondent was born after the conversion of his parents or in other words he was born of Christian parents
It appears that in the State of Andhra Pradesh for the purpose inter alia of admission to medical college converts to Christianity are treated as belonging to backward class and therefore when the respondent applied for admission to Gandhi Medical College in 1973 he described himself as a member of a backward class
But he did not succeed in getting admission
Thereupon he got himself converted to Hinduism on 20th September 1973 from Andhra Pradesh Arunchatiya Sangham stating that he had renounced Christianity and embraced Hinduism after going through Suddhi ceremony and he was thereafter received back into Madiga caste of Hindu fold
On the strength of this certificate claiming to be a member of Madiga caste the respondent applied for admission to Guntur Medical College and on the basis that he was a member of a Scheduled Caste he was provisionally selected for admission
But subsequently he was informed by the Principal of the Medical College that his selection was cancelled as he was not a Hindu by birth
The Principal apparently relied on Note b to clause C of rule 2 of the Rules issued by the Government of Andhra Pradesh under GO Rt
No 1315 dated 4th December 1973 for admission to the MBBS Course in Government Medical Colleges for the Academic year 1973 74
This Note was in the following terms No candidate other than Hindu including a Sikh can claim to belong to Schedule Castes
No candidates can claim to belong to the Scheduled Caste except by birth
 The respondent thereupon preferred a writ petition in the High Court of Andhra Pradesh challenging the validity of cancellation of his admission on the ground that Note b which required that a candidate in order to be eligible or a seat reserved for Scheduled Caste should belong to a Scheduled Caste by birth went beyond the scope of the Constitution Scheduled Castes order 1950 and was therefore void and the Principal was not entitled to cancel his admission on the ground that he was not a Hindu or a member of a Scheduled Caste by birth
This ground of challenge was accepted by a Single Judge of the High Court and on appeal a Division Bench of the High Court also took the same view
In fact it was conceded before the Division Bench by the learned Government Pleader appearing on behalf of the State that Note b was repugnant to the provisions of cl
3 of the Constitution Scheduled Castes order 1950 since the only requirement of that clause was that in order to be a member of a Scheduled Caste person should be professing Hindu or Sikh religion and it did not prescribe that he should be a Hindu by birth
The State did not succeed in obtaining leave to appeal from the High Court and hence it preferred a special leave petition to this Court
When the special leave petition came up for hearing there was no decision of 1049 this Court dealing with the question as to whether a convert or reconvert to Hinduism can become a member of a Scheduled Caste and of so in what circumstances and hence we granted special leave to the State on the State agreeing that whatever be the result of the appeal the admission of the respondent will not be disturbed and that the State will in any event pay the costs of the respondent
It may be pointed out that since then a decision on this question has been rendered by a Bench of three judges of this Court to which we shall refer later
It is clear on a plain reading of clause 4 of article 15 that the State has power to make special provision for scheduled Castes and in exercise of this power the State can reserve seats in a medical college for members of Scheduled Castes without violating article 1 S or cl
2 of article 29
The expression Scheduled Castes  has a technical meaning given to it by cl
24 of article 366 and it means such castes races or tribes or parts or groups within such castes races or tribes as are deemed under article 341 to be Scheduled Castes for the purposes of this Constitution
 The President in exercise of the power conferred upon him under article 341 has issued the Constitution Scheduled Castes order 1950
paragraphs 2 and 3 of this order are material and they read as follows 2
Subject to the provisions of this order the castes races or tribes or parts of or groups within caste or tribes specified in Part I to XIII of the Schedule to this order shall in relation to the States to which these parts respectively relate be deemed to be scheduled castes so far as regards members thereof resident in the localities specified in relation to them in those Parts of that Schedule
Notwithstanding anything contained in Paragraph 2 No person who professes a religion different from the Hindu or the Sikh religion shall be deemed to be a member of a Scheduled Caste
 F The Schedule to this Order in part I sets out the castes races or tribes or parts of or groups within castes or tribes which shall in the different areas of the State of Andhra Pradesh be deemed to be Scheduled Castes
One of the castes specified there is Madiga caste and that caste must therefore be deemed to be a Scheduled Caste
But by reason of c
3 a person belonging to Madiga caste would not be deemed to be a member of a Scheduled Caste unless he professes Hindu or Sikh religion at the relevant time
It is not necessary that he should have been born a Hindu or a Sikh
The only thing required is that he should at the material time be professing Hindu or Sikh religion
Now Note b was interpreted by the Principal of the Medical College to require that a candidate in order to be eligible for a seat reserved for Scheduled Castes should be a Hindu by birth
This interpretation was plainly erroneous because what Note b required was not that a candidate should be a Hindu by birth but that 1050 he should belong to a Scheduled Caste by birth
But even this requirement that a candidate in order to be eligible for a reserved seat should be a member of a Scheduled Caste by birth went beyond the provision in cl
3 of the Constitution Scheduled Castes order
1950 and was rightly condemned as void and no reliance was placed upon it on behalf of the State
The principal argument advanced on behalf of the State was that when the respondent was converted to Hinduism he did not automatically become a member of the Madiga caste out it was open to the members of the Madiga caste to accept him within their fold and it was only if he was so accepted that he could claim to have become a member of the Madiga caste
There was no evidence in the present case contended the State showing that the respondent on his conversion to Hinduism was accepted as a member of the Madiga caste by the other members of that caste and therefore he was not at the time of his application for admission a member of a Scheduled caste Now before we proceed to consider this contention it is necessary to point out that there is no absolute rule applicable in all cases that whenever a member of a caste is converted from Hinduism to Christianity he loses his membership of the caste
This question has been considered by this Court in C M Arumugam vs section Rajgopal and it has been pointed out there that ordinarily it is true that on conversion to Christianity a person would cease to be a member of the caste to which he belongs but that is not an invariable rule
It would depend on the structure of the caste and its rules and regulations
There are some castes particularly in South India where this consequence does not follow on conversion since such castes comprise both Hindus and Christians
Whether Madiga is a caste which falls within this category is a debatable question
The contention of the respondent in his writ petition was that mere are both Hindus and Christians in Madiga caste and even after conversion to Christianity his parents continued to belong to Madiga caste and he was therefore a member of Madiga caste right from the time of his birth
It is not necessary for the purpose of the present appeal to decide this question
We may assume that on conversion to Christianity the parents of the respondent lost their membership of Madiga caste and that the respondent was therefore not a Madiga by birth
The question is could the respondent become a member of Madiga caste on conversion to Hindusim  That is a question on which considerable light is thrown by the decision of this Court in C M Arumugam vs section Rajgopal supra
The main question which arose for decision in C M Arumugamr vs section RaJgopal supra was whether section Raigopal who belonged to Adi Dravida caste before his conversion to Christianity could on reconversion to Hinduism once again become a member of the Adi Dravida caste
This Court after examining the question on principle and referring to the decided cases pointed out that the consistent view taken in this country since 1886 was that on reconversion to 1051 Hinduism a person can once again become a member of the caste in which he was born and to which he belonged before conversion to another religion if the members of the caste accept him as a member
This Court observed that there was no reason either on principle or on authority which should compel it to disregard this view which has prevailed for almost a century and lay down a different rule on the subject and concluded that on reconversion to Hinduism section Rajgopal could once again revert to his Adi Dravida caste for he was accepted by the other members of the caste
The reasoning on which this decision proceeded is equally applicable in a case where the parents of a person are converted from Hinduism to Christianity and he is born after their conversion and on his subsequently embracing Hinduism the members of the caste to which the parents belonged prior to their conversion accept him as a member within the fold
It is for the members of the caste to decide whether or not to admit a person within the caste
Since the caste is a social combination of persons governed by its rules and regulations it may if its rules and regulations so provide admit a new member just as it may expel an existing member
The only requirement for admission of a person as a member of the caste is the acceptance of the person by the other members of the caste for as pointed out by Krishnaswami Ayyangar J in Durgaprasada Rao vs Sudarsanaswamiin matters affecting the well being or composition of a caste the caste itself is the supreme judge
emphasis supplied
It will therefore be seen that on conversion to Hinduism a person born of Christian converts would not become a member of the caste to which his parents belonged prior to their conversion to Christianity automatically or as a matter of course but he would become such member if the other members of the caste accept him as a member and admit him within the fold
This view would have ordinarily required us to find whether on the material on record it could be said to have been established by the respondent that on conversion to Hinduism he was accepted as a member of Madiga caste by the other members of that caste for it is only if he was so accepted that he could claim to be a member of a Scheduled Caste
But it is not necessary for us to undertake this inquiry because as already pointed out it has been agreed by the State that whatever be the result of this appeal the admission of the respondent will not be disturbed
We accordingly dismiss the appeal with costs in favour of the respondent
PHP Appeal dismissed


Summary:
The parents of the respondent originally professed Hindu religion and belonged to Madiga caste which is a scheduled caste in the Andhra Pradesh as specified in the schedule to the Constitution Scheduled Castes order 1950
Respondent s parents were converted to Christianity and thereafter the respondent was born
The respondent got himself converted to Hinduism renouncing Christianity
Thereafter he applied for admission to Guntur Medical College on the basis that he was a member of a Scheduled Caste
He was provisionally selected for admission but subsequently was informed by the principal the College that his selection was cancelled as he was not a Hindu by birth
The Principal relied on Note b to Clause of rule 2 of the Rules issued by the Government of Andhra Pradesh for admission to the MBBS course in Government Medical College
The said note provides that no candidate other than Hindu can claim to belong to Scheduled Caste
It further provides that no candidate can belong to Scheduled Caste except by birth
The respondent filed a Writ Petition in the High Court challenging the validity of Note b as going beyond the scope of the Constitution Scheduled Castes order 1950
The respondent succeeded before the learned single Judge as well as the Division Bench of the High Court
In fact it was conceded by the appellant before the High Court that note b was repugnant to the said order
Dismissing the appeal by Special Leave  HELD 1
It is clear on a plain reading of clause 4 of Article 15 that the State has power to make special provision for scheduled castes and in exercise of its power the State can reserve seats in a Medical College for members of Scheduled Castes without violating Article 15 or Article 292
Article 36624 defines Scheduled Castes to mean such castes races or tribes as are deemed under Article 341 to be scheduled castes
The President in exercise of the powers conferred upon him under Article 341 has issued Constitution Scheduled Castes order 1950
Madiga caste is included in the schedule to the said order
The said order itself however provides that no person who
professes a religion other than Hindu or Sikh shall be deemed to be a member of a scheduled caste
It however does not require that the should have been born a Hindu or a Sikh
The only thing required is that at the material time he should profess Hindu or Sikh religion
The requirement of the note that a candidate in order to be eligible for a reserved seat should be a member of a Scheduled Caste by birth went beyond the said order and was rightly condemned as void
1049B H 1050A 2
There is no absolute rule applicable in all cases that whenever a member of a caste is converted from Hinduism to Christianity he loses his membership of the caste
It would depend upon r the structure of the caste and its rules and regulations
There are some castes 1047 particularly ill South India where this consequence does not follow on conversion since such castes comprise both Hindus and Christians
Whether Madiga caste falls in this category is a debatable question
For the purposes of the present appeal it is not necessary to decide the contention of the respondent that there are both Hindus and Christians in Madiga caste and even after conversion to Christianity his parents continued to belong to Madiga caste
1050 C F 3
A similar question about the effect of re conversion was decided by this Court in the case of C R Arumugam vs section Rajagopal
In that case this Court laid down that there is no reason to hold that a person on reconversion to Hinduism cannot once again become a member of the caste in which he was born and to which he belonged before conversion to another religion
The reasoning on which this decision proceeded is equally applicable will a cause where the parents of a person are converted from Hinduism to Christianity and he is born after their conversion and on his subsequent embraching Hinduism the members of the caste to which the parents belong prior to their conversion accept him as a member within the fold
It is for the members of the caste to decide whether or not to admit a person within the caste
Since the caste is a social combination of persons governed by its rules and regulations it may if its rules and regulations so provide admit a new member just as it may expel an existing member
The only requirement for admission of a person as a member of the caste is the acceptance of the reason by the other members of the caste
On conversion to Hinduism a person would not become a member of the caste to which his parents belonged prior to their conversion automatically or as a matter of course but he would become such member if the other members of the caste accept him as a members and admit him within the fold
1050G 1051B E There is nothing on record to show whether the respondent was accepted by Madiga caste
However it is not necessary to undertake this enquiry because it has been agreed by the appellants that whatever be the result of the appeal the admission of the respondent would not be disturbed
1051 FG