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Supreme Court Of India

(From: Orissa)*

Hon'ble Judge(s): Madan B. Lokur, Deepak Gupta , JJ

Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes Orders (Amendment) Act (108 of 1976) , Sch.II Part XII Item.42— Term 'Kulis' - Is in nature of plural for Kuli - Hence, it includes persons belonging to 'Kuli' community. Constitution of India , Art.342— Term 'Kulis' used in the Order is in the nature of plural for 'Kuli'. This becomes even more apparent from the various documents referred to above wherein the terms 'Kulis' and 'Kuli' have been used interchangeably and though the caste or tribe has been described as 'Kuli', the members of the community, when dealt with together, have been described as 'Kulis'. Furthermore, in the Hindi version of the Amendment Act of 1976, the Scheduled Tribe has been described as 'Kuli' and not 'Kulis'. In the present case, earlier the President and later Parliament had included 'Kulis' in the list of Scheduled Tribe. It has been found that there is no community by the name 'Kulis' in the State of Odisha. The only community is 'Kuli'. If one does @page-SC4999 not include 'Kuli' in 'Kulis', the net result would be that one would be deleting a Tribe from the list of Scheduled Tribes. Thus, earlier the President and later Parliament while using the term 'Kulis' only intended it to be used as plural for the word 'Kuli'. Any other interpretation would mean that nobody would be able to take benefit....