india

Updated: Sep 17, 2019 00:15 IST

The Allahabad high court on Monday stayed a notification issued by the Yogi Adityanath government in June this year to include 17 other backward class (OBC) groups in the schedule caste (SC) category.

The court also directed state government to file its reply within three weeks and the case will be listed thereafter.

A bench comprising Justice Sudhir Agarwal and Justice Rajiv Mishra passed the order in a petition filed by one Gorakhnath.

In the petition, it was argued that the Article 341 of the Constitution empowers only central government to make such amendments and include a category in the SC list. Hence, the state government notification is violative of Article 341, it claimed.

According to the petitioner, state government had issued a notification in June this year for inclusion of 17 OBC groups — Kashyap, Rajbhar, Dhivar, Bind, Kumhar, Kahar, Kewat, Nishad, Bhar, Mallah, Prajapati, Dhimar, Batham, Turha, Godia, Manjhi and Machua — in the SC category.