Jangama Lingayats cannot get Beda Jangama tag: Karnataka High Court

Bengaluru: The Karnataka High Court has ruled that a 'Jangama Lingayat' cannot be construed to be a 'Beda Jangama', a scheduled caste.

“..it is clear that even taking note of the position of law that the Court cannot widen the interpretation of the notification of castes detailed as scheduled castes, there could be no stretching of the caste ‘Beda Jangama’ or ‘Budaga Jangama’ to include the Jangama belonging to veerashaiva lingayat community,” a division bench comprising Justices S Sunil Dutt Yadav and Ramachandra D Huddar said while disposing of three appeals challenging the order of the single bench on various grounds.

The case at hand pertains to Ravindra Swamy, a political leader from Bidar, whose nomination paper for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections from Kalaburagi constituency, a reserved constituency, was rejected. He has filed a separate election petition which is pending.

Ravindra Swamy’s first application for the Caste Certificate declaring him to belong to 'Beda Jangama', a Scheduled Caste, was rejected in 2016. He filed a fresh application and after a round of litigation Tahasildar passed an order to issue the Caste Certificate as 'Beda Jangama' in August 2019. On October 11, 2023, a single bench had set aside the order passed by the Deputy Commissioner quashing the 2019 order of the Tahasildar and remanded the matter.

While the State entities, including Department of Social Welfare and Civil Rights Enforcement Directorate and the complainant Karnataka State Dalitha Sangharsha Samiti, Bidar (KSDSS) challenged the single bench order in its entirety, Ravindra Swamy’s challenge was only insofar as it relates to remitting of the matter to the District Caste Verification Committee for fresh consideration.

The division bench observed that the single bench erred in giving the direction pointing out that Ravindra Swamy had obtained the caste certificate for election purposes and hence the Caste Verification Committee cannot look into such cases. The bench also said that Ravindra Swamy's father, sister, and two brothers have clearly mentioned in the educational records that they belong to the Lingayat community.

The Apex Court’s dictum that courts cannot give any declaration that the status of Scheduled Castes could be extended to synonymous names of castes found in the precedential notifications issued under Article 341 of the Constitution, the division bench. The division bench also noted that the Jangamas of the 'Veerashaiva Lingayat' belong to the priestly class and are essentially vegetarian in diet.

“Thus, once material on record indicates that the petitioner Ravindra Swamy is a 'Lingayat', the question of him claiming the benefit of 'Beda Jangama' does not arise. Mere grant of a 'Beda Jangama' certificate to a member of the family would not permit the issuance of a certificate to another claimant if they are not entitled as they belong to the 'Veerashaiva Lingayat' community,” the bench said.