Part XVI - Special Provisions Relating to Certain Classes
Article
330 Reservation of seats for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes in
the House of the People
(1) Seats shall be reserved in
the House of the People for -
(a) the Scheduled Castes;
(b)
the Scheduled Tribes except the Scheduled Tribes in the autonomous
districts of Assam; and
(c) the Scheduled Tribes in the
autonomous districts of Assam.
(2) The number of seats reserved
in any State or Union territory for the Scheduled Castes or the
Scheduled Tribes under clause (1) shall bear, as nearly as may be,
the same proportion to the total number of seats allotted to that
State or Union territory in the House of the People as the population
of the Scheduled Castes in the State or Union territory or of the
Scheduled Tribes in the State or Union territory or part of the State
or Union territory, as the case may be, in respect of which seats are
so reserved, bears to the total population of the State or Union
territory.
(3) Notwithstanding anything contained in clause (2),
the number of seats reserved in the House of the People for the
Scheduled Tribes in the autonomous districts of Assam shall bear to
the total number of seats allotted to that State a proportion not
less than the population of the Scheduled Tribes in the said
autonomous districts bears to the total population of the
State.
Explanation: In this article and in article 332, the
expression "population" means the population as ascertained
at the last preceding census of which the relevant figures have been
published:
Provided that the reference in this Explanation to
the last preceding census of which the relevant figures have been
published shall, until the relevant figures for the first census
taken after the year 2000 have been published, be construed as a
reference to the 1971 census.
Article
331 Representation of the Anglo-Indian community in the House of the
People
Notwithstanding anything in article 81, the President
may, if he is of opinion that the Anglo-Indian community is not
adequately represented in the House of the People, nominate not more
than two members of that community to the House of the People.
Article
332 Reservation of seats for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes in
the Legislative Assemblies of the States
(1) Seats
shall be reserved for the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes,
except the Scheduled Tribes in the autonomous districts of Assam, in
the Legislative Assembly of every State.
(2) Seats shall be
reserved also for the autonomous districts in the Legislative
Assembly of the State of Assam.
(3) The number of seats reserved
for the Scheduled Castes or the Scheduled Tribes in the Legislative
Assembly of any State under clause (1) shall bear, as nearly as may
be, the same proportion to the total number of seats in the Assembly
as the population of the Scheduled Castes in the State or of the
Scheduled Tribes in the State or part of the State, as the case may
be, in respect of which seats are so reserved, bears to the total
population of the State.
(3A) Notwithstanding anything contained
in clause (3), until the taking effect, under article 170, of the
re-adjustment, on the
basis of the first census after the year
2000, of the number of seats in the Legislative Assemblies of the
States of Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya, Mizoram and Nagaland, the
seats which shall be reserved for the Scheduled Tribes in the
Legislative Assembly of any such State shall be, -
(a) if all
the seats in the Legislative Assembly of such State in existence on
the date of coming into force of the Constitution (Fifty-seventh
Amendment) Act, 1987 (hereafter in this clause referred to as the
existing Assembly) are held by members of the Scheduled Tribes, all
the seats except one;
(b) in any other case, such number of
seats as bears to the total number of seats, a proportion not less
than the number (as on the said date) of members belonging to the
Scheduled Tribes in the existing Assembly bears to the total number
of seats in the existing Assembly.
(3B) Notwithstanding anything
contained in clause (3), until the re-adjustment, under article 170,
takes effect on the basis of the first census after the year 2000, of
the number of seats in the Legislative Assembly of the State of
Tripura, the seats which shall be reserved for the Scheduled Tribes
in the Legislative Assembly shall be, such number of seats as bears
to the total number of seats, a proportion not less than the number,
as on the date of coming into force of the Constitution
(Seventy-
second Amendment) Act, 1992, of members belonging to
the Scheduled Tribes in the Legislative Assembly in existence on the
said date bears to the total number of seats in that Assembly.
(4)
The number of seats reserved for an autonomous district in the
Legislative Assembly of the State of Assam shall bear to the total
number of seats in that Assembly a proportion not less than the
population of the district bears to the total population of the
State.
(5) The constituencies for the seats reserved for any
autonomous district of Assam shall not comprise any area outside that
district.
(6) No person who is not a member of a Scheduled Tribe
of any autonomous district of the State of Assam shall be eligible
for election to the Legislative Assembly of the State from any
constituency of that district.
Article
333 Representation of the Anglo-Indian community in the Legislative
Assemblies of the States
Notwithstanding anything in article
170, the Governor of a State may, if he is of opinion that the
Anglo-Indian community needs representation in the Legislative
Assembly of the State and is not adequately represented therein,
nominate one member of that community to the Assembly.
Article
334 Reservation of seats and special representation to cease after
fifty years
Notwithstanding anything in the foregoing
provisions of this Part, the provisions of this Constitution relating
to -
(a) the reservation of seats for the Scheduled Castes and
the Scheduled Tribes in the House of the People and in the
Legislative Assemblies of the States; and
(b) the representation
of the Anglo-Indian community in the House of the People and in the
Legislative Assemblies of the States by nomination,
shall cease
to have effect on the expiration of a period of fifty years from the
commencement of this Constitution:
Provided that nothing in this
article shall affect any representation in the House of the People or
in the Legislative Assembly of a State until the dissolution of the
then existing House or Assembly, as the case may be.
Article
335 Claims of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes to services and
posts
The claims of the members of the Scheduled Castes and
the Scheduled Tribes shall be taken into consideration, consistently
with the maintenance of efficiency of administration, in the
making
of appointments to services and posts in connection with the affairs
of the Union or of a State.
Article
336 Special provision for Anglo-Indian community in certain
services
(1) During the first two years after the
commencement of this Constitution, appointments of members of the
Anglo-Indian community to posts in the railway, customs, postal and
telegraph services of the Union shall be made on the same basis as
immediately before the fifteenth day of August, 1947.
During
every succeeding period of two years, the number of posts reserved
for the members of the said community in the said services shall, as
nearly as possible, be less by ten per cent, than the numbers so
reserved during the immediately preceding period of two
years:
Provided that at the end of ten years from the
commencement of this Constitution all such reservations shall
cease.
(2) Nothing in clause (1) shall bar the appointment of
members of the Anglo-Indian community to posts other than, or in
addition to, those reserved for the community under that clause if
such members are found qualified for appointment on merit as compared
with the members of other communities.
Article
337 Special provision with respect to educational grants for the
benefit of Anglo-Indian community
During the first three
financial years after the commencement of this Constitution, the same
grants, if any, shall be made by the Union and by each State for he
benefit of the Anglo-Indian community in respect of education as were
made in the financial year ending on the thirty-first day of March,
1948.
During every succeeding period of three years the grants
may be less by ten per cent, than those for the immediately preceding
period of three years:
Provided that at the end of ten years
from the commencement of this Constitution such grants, to the extent
to which they are a special concession to the Anglo-Indian community,
shall cease:
Provided further that no educational institution
shall be entitled to receive any grant under this article unless at
least forty per cent of the annual admissions therein are made
available to members of communities other than the Anglo-Indian
community.
Article
338 National Commission for Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes
(1)
There shall be a Commission for the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled
Tribes to be known as the National Commission for the Scheduled
Castes and Scheduled Tribes.
(2) Subject to the provisions of
any law made in this behalf by Parliament, the Commission shall
consist of a Chairperson, Vice-Chairperson and five other Members and
the conditions of service and tenure of office of the Chairperson,
Vice-Chairperson and other Members so appointed shall be such as the
President may by rule determine.
(3) The Chairperson,
Vice-Chairperson and other Members of the Commission shall be
appointed by the President by warrant under his hand and seal.
(4)
The Commission shall have the power to regulate its own
procedure.
(5) It shall be the duty of the Commission -
(a)
to investigate and monitor all matters relating to the safeguards
provided for the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes under this
Constitution or under any other law for the time being in force or
under any order of the Government and to evaluate the working of such
safeguards;
(b) to inquire into specific complaints with respect
to the deprivation of rights and safeguards of the Scheduled Castes
and Scheduled Tribes;
(c) to participate and advise on the
planning process of socio-economic development of the Scheduled
Castes and
Scheduled Tribes and to evaluate the progress of
their development under the Union and any State;
(d) to present
to the President, annually and at such other times as the Commission
may deem fit, reports upon the working of those safeguards;
(e)
to make in such reports recommendations as to the measures that
should be taken by the Union or any State for the effective
implementation of those safeguards and other measures for the
protection, welfare and socio-economic development of the Scheduled
Castes and Scheduled Tribes; and
(f) to discharge such other
functions in relation to the protection, welfare and development and
advancement of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes as the
President may, subject to the provisions of any law made by
Parliament, by rule specify.
(6) The President shall cause all
such reports to be laid before each House of Parliament along with a
memorandum explaining the action taken or proposed to be taken on the
recommendations relating to the Union and the reasons for the
non-acceptance, if any, of any of such recommendations.
(7)
Where any such report, or any part thereof, relates to any matter
with which any State Government is concerned, a copy of such report
shall be forwarded to the Governor of the State who shall cause it to
be laid before the Legislature of the State along with a memorandum
explaining the action taken or proposed to be taken on the
recommendations relating to the State and the reasons for the
non-acceptance, if any, of any of such recommendations.
(8) The
Commission shall, while investigating any matter referred to in
sub-clause (a) or inquiring into any commplaint referred to in
sub-clause (b) of clause (5), have all the powers of a civil court
trying a suit and in particular in respect of the following matters,
namely:
(a) summoning and enforcing the attendance of any person
from any part of India and examining him on oath;
(b) requiring
the discovery and production of any documents;
(c) receiving
evidence on affidavits;
(d) requisitioning any public record or
copy thereof from any court or office;
(e) issuing commissions
for the examination of witnesses and documents;
(f) any other
matter which the President may by rule determine.
(9) The Union
and every State Government shall consult the Commission on all major
police matters affecting Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes.
(10)
In this article, references to the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled
Tribes shall be construed as including references to such other
backward classes as the President may, on receipt of the report of a
Commission appointed under clause (1) of article 340, by order
specify and also to the Anglo-Indian community.
Article
339 Control of the Union over the administration of Scheduled Areas
and the welfare of Scheduled Tribes
(1) The President
may at any time and shall, at the expiration of ten years from the
commencement of this Constitution by order appoint a Commission to
report on the administration of the Scheduled Areas and the welfare
of the Scheduled Tribes in the States. The order may define the
composition, powers and procedure of the Commission and may contain
such incidental or ancillary provisions as the President may consider
necessary or desirable.
(2) The executive power of the Union
shall extend to the giving of directions to a State as to the drawing
up and execution of schemes specified in the direction to be
essential for the welfare of the Scheduled Tribes in the State.
Article
340 Appointment of a Commission to investigate the conditions of
backward classes
(1) The President may by order
appoint a Commission
consisting of such persons as he thinks fit
to investigate the conditions of socially and educationally backward
classes within the territory of India and the difficulties under
which they labour and to make recommendations as to the steps that
should be taken by the Union or any State to remove such difficulties
and to improve their condition and as to the grants that should be
made for the purpose by the Union or any State and the conditions
subject to which such grants should be made, and the order appointing
such Commission shall define the procedure to be followed by the
Commission.
(2) A Commission so appointed shall investigate the
matters referred to them and present to the President a report
setting out the facts as found by them and making such
recommendations as they think proper.
(3) The President shall
cause a copy of the report so presented together with a memorandum
explaining the action taken thereon to be laid before each House of
Parliament.
Article
341 Scheduled Castes
(1) The President may with
respect to any State or Union territory, and where it is a State,
after consultation with the Governor thereof, by public notification,
specify the castes, races or tribes or parts of or groups within
castes, races or tribes which shall for the purposes of this
Constitution be deemed to be Scheduled Castes in relation to that
State or Union territory, as the case may be.
(2) Parliament may
by law include in or exclude from the list of Scheduled Castes
specified in a notification issued under clause (1) any caste, race
or tribe or part of or group within any caste, race or tribe, but
save as aforesaid a notification issued under the said clause shall
not be varied by any subsequent notification.
Article
342 Scheduled Tribes
(1) The President may with
respect to any State or Union territory, and where it is a State,
after consultation with the Governor thereof, by public notification,
specify the tribes or tribal communities or parts of or groups within
tribes or tribal communities which shall for the purposes of this
Constitution be deemed to be Scheduled Tribes in relation to that
State or Union territory, as the case may be.
(2) Parliament may
by law include in or exclude from the list of Scheduled Tribes
specified in a notification issued under clause (1) any tribe or
tribal community or part of or group within any tribe or tribal
community, but save as aforesaid a notification issued under the said
clause shall not be varied by any subsequent notification.
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