Case against use of term ‘Devendrakula Velalar’

The Madras High Court on Tuesday directed the Centre and the State authorities to elucidate the rationale behind a call taken lately to use the frequent nomenclature Devendrakula Velalar to seek advice from seven totally different Scheduled Castes in Tamil Nadu, regardless of objections raised by folks belonging to the Vellalar group, comprising Mudaliars, Gounders, Pillaimars and Saiva Chettiyars.

Chief Justice Sanjib Banerjee and Justice Senthilkumar Ramamoorthy ordered that each the Union and the State governments ought to file their counter affidavits, indicating their stand, in three weeks. The order was handed on a writ petition filed by the World Vellalar Association, difficult a authorities order issued on June 1, instructing Collectors within the State to use the brand new nomenclature in official information.

In an affidavit filed in assist of the writ petition, affiliation president W.B. Palani stated about 2.7 crore folks within the State belonged to the Vellalar group, and they didn’t just like the title being utilized by another group. However, in March 2019, the State authorities constituted a committee to group Kudumban, Pallan, Devendrakulathan, Kadaiyan, Pannadi and Kalladi below a typical nomenclature.

Alleging that the committee didn’t comprise of any anthropologist to take an knowledgeable resolution, the petitioner affiliation stated the committee, however, submitted a report in November 2020 and really useful that seven Scheduled Castes, together with Vathiriyan, residing in sure districts, may very well be referred to as Devendrakula Velalar. The State accepted the report and forwarded it to the Centre for passing an applicable laws.

The Constitution (Scheduled Castes) Order (Amendment) Act of 2021 was handed by Parliament. The laws acquired the President’s assent on April 13 and was introduced into pressure from May 15, from when officers had been anticipated to seek advice from the brand new nomenclature whereas issuing group certificates. The current G.O. below problem was the autumn out of the brand new regulation, the petitioner affiliation stated.

It was additionally delivered to the discover of the courtroom that a person had already challenged the validity of the brand new 2021 Act. After recording the submissions, the judges directed the High Court Registry to membership the current case with one other one difficult the regulation, and checklist them collectively for additional listening to after 4 weeks.