Orissa High Court rules Scheduled Caste and Tribe status cannot be transferred between states

Key facts

• The Orissa High Court, in a ruling by Justice Sashikanta Mishra, held that SC/ST status is state-specific and a person migrating to another state does not carry the status enjoyed in the state of origin.
• The court quashed the April 23 letter of Mayurbhanj's district registrar-cum-ADM that asked Jharkhand resident Binoy Krishna Das to obtain prior permission to sell his land under Odisha Regulation 2 of 1956, and directed the sub-registrar-cum-tehsildar, Kuliana, to register the sale deed.
• Das, a Bhuiya (notified as a Scheduled Caste in Jharkhand but a Scheduled Tribe in Odisha), sold 0.14 acres of his land in Mayurbhanj district to an SC community member for ₹10 lakh via a deed executed in March this year.
• The court held that since Bhuiya is not notified as an SC in Odisha, Das could not claim SC status there, nor be automatically treated as an ST, so restrictions under Regulation 2 of 1956 and Section 22 of the Odisha Land Reforms Act did not apply.