Why in news:

• The Himachal Pradesh High Court has issued an order staying the notification of the state government granting tribal status to the Hatti community.

Key Points:

• The order of the High Court was passed barely days after the state government issued a notification granting tribal status to the Hatti community.
• Passing an order on a bunch of petitions, a division bench of Chief Justice MS Ramachandra Rao and Justice Jyotsna Rewal Dua noted that prima facie there appears to be 'manifest arbitrariness and glaring unconstitutionality in the impugned law'.
• It is noteworthy here that the Himachal Pradesh government had recently issued a notification granting Scheduled Tribe (ST) status to the Hatti community of Sirmaur district's Transgiri area.
• Members of the community had been demonstrating against the state government over not implementing the Constitution (Scheduled Tribes) Order (Second Amendment) Act, 2023, and notifying the community as a Scheduled Tribe.
• While passing the orders staying the notification by the state government, the High Court bench pointed out that there exists a balance of convenience in favour of the petitioners and irreparable injury is likely to be caused if the interim relief is not granted. Hearing pleas challenging the Scheduled Tribe status for the Hatti community filed by the Gigiripar Anusuchit Jaati Adhikar Sanrakshan Samiti and the Gujjar Kalyan Parishad, the high court clubbed the petitions and passed the interim order.
• However, the High Court clarified that the observations or findings recorded are only prima facie and tentative and shall not have any bearing during the final hearing. Putting its weight behind the orders, the Court noted that prima facie it appears that Parliament has acted capriciously, irrationally and/or without adequate determining principle. Further, the high court expressed the view that if interim orders are not granted, tens of thousands of ST certificates would be granted, reversal of which would be difficult.