{"id":358987,"date":"2026-03-25T16:57:16","date_gmt":"2026-03-25T11:27:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/?p=358987"},"modified":"2026-03-25T16:57:16","modified_gmt":"2026-03-25T11:27:16","slug":"constitution-scheduled-castes-order-1950","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/constitution-scheduled-castes-order-1950\/","title":{"rendered":"Constitution (Scheduled Castes) Order, 1950"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>News: <\/strong>The Supreme Court held that a person converting to Christianity cannot claim Scheduled Caste protections, upholding the Andhra Pradesh High Court order.<\/p>\n<h2>About Constitution (Scheduled Castes) Order, 1950<\/h2>\n<figure id=\"attachment_358988\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-358988\" style=\"width: 403px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-358988\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Source-TH-2.jpg?resize=403%2C314&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"Constitution (Scheduled Castes) Order, 1950\" width=\"403\" height=\"314\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Source-TH-2.jpg?resize=300%2C234&amp;ssl=1 300w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Source-TH-2.jpg?resize=768%2C598&amp;ssl=1 768w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Source-TH-2.jpg?w=894&amp;ssl=1 894w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 403px) 100vw, 403px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-358988\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Source &#8211; TH<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<ul>\n<li>It <strong>defines Scheduled Castes (SCs)<\/strong> and restricts their <strong>status based on specific religions<\/strong> <strong>under Article 341.<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Constitutional basis:<\/strong> It was <strong>issued by the President<\/strong> to provide <strong>protection against social disability arising from untouchability.<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Religious criteria:<\/strong> It <strong>initially<\/strong> restricted <strong>SC status to Hindus<\/strong>, later <strong>extended to Sikhs (1956)<\/strong> and <strong>Buddhists (1990),<\/strong> and now applies <strong>only to these three religions.<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Clause 3 (religious restriction):<\/strong> <strong>Paragraph 3<\/strong> clearly states that <strong>no person professing a religion other than Hinduism, Sikhism, or Buddhism shall be deemed a Scheduled Caste member.<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Territorial Nature:<\/strong> A caste <strong>recognised as SC in one State<\/strong> <strong>may not be recognised in another State or Union Territory<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Relevant Constitutional Articles<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Article 341(1):<\/strong> It <strong>empowers the President<\/strong> to <strong>notify<\/strong> the <strong>list of Scheduled Castes.<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Article 341(2):<\/strong> It allows <strong>only Parliament<\/strong> to <strong>include or exclude<\/strong> any caste from the list.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Article 366(24):<\/strong> It <strong>defines Scheduled Castes<\/strong> as those notified under Article 341.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Articles 15(4) and 17:<\/strong> These provisions support <strong>advancement of Scheduled Castes and abolish untouchability.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>About SC Status after Supreme Court Ruling (2026)<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Background of the case<\/strong>: The case arose from a complaint filed in 2021 by a Christian pastor who alleged caste-based abuse and invoked provisions of the SC\/ST Act.\n<ul>\n<li>The <strong>accused<\/strong> argued that since he had converted to Christianity and was functioning as a pastor, he could not claim Scheduled Caste status.<\/li>\n<li>The <strong>Andhra Pradesh High Court in April 2025<\/strong> accepted this argument and <strong>quashed<\/strong> the case.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>Supreme Court ruling (2026)<\/strong>: Supreme Court <strong>upheld<\/strong> the High Court\u2019s decision and held that a <strong>person who converts to Christianity cannot continue to claim Scheduled Caste status or related protections<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Loss of status and mutual exclusivity<\/strong>: <strong>Conversion to non-specified religions<\/strong> leads to <strong>immediate loss of Scheduled Caste status<\/strong>, and such persons cannot simultaneously claim Scheduled Caste identity.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Reconversion and proof requirement<\/strong>: The Court stated that to regain Scheduled Caste status after reconversion, a person must provide clear and <strong>credible proof of returning to the original religion<\/strong> and <strong>acceptance by the caste community<\/strong>, and <strong>mere self-declaration is not sufficient.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>News: The Supreme Court held that a person converting to Christianity cannot claim Scheduled Caste protections, upholding the Andhra Pradesh High Court order. About Constitution (Scheduled Castes) Order, 1950 It defines Scheduled Castes (SCs) and restricts their status based on specific religions under Article 341. Constitutional basis: It was issued by the President to provide&hellip; <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/constitution-scheduled-castes-order-1950\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Constitution (Scheduled Castes) Order, 1950<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10393,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1566,1760,12039],"tags":[11872],"class_list":["post-358987","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-daily-factly-articles","category-polity-and-nation","category-knolls","tag-9pm-daily-factly","entry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","views":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/358987","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10393"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=358987"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/358987\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=358987"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=358987"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=358987"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}