SC or ST Candidate Who Moved States: Reservation in Central Jobs

The basic rule: SC and ST status is tied to a state

Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes are not one national list. Under Articles 341 and 342 of the Constitution, the President notifies the castes and tribes that count as SC or ST in relation to each state or union territory. A community may be listed as SC in Uttar Pradesh and not at all in Maharashtra, or as ST in Jharkhand and not in Delhi.

Because the lists are state-wise, the Supreme Court has long held that a person who migrates does not carry SC or ST status into the new state's list. In Marri Chandra Shekhar Rao v. Dean, Seth G.S. Medical College (1990), a candidate who was ST in Andhra Pradesh could not claim the ST seat in Maharashtra after moving there. The Action Committee case (1994) confirmed the rule, and a Constitution Bench in Bir Singh v. Delhi Jal Board (2018) restated it: SC and ST persons can claim reservation in their home state, not in a state to which they have moved.

The rule protects the people for whom each state's list was drawn up. It is also why the question "which is your state of origin?" comes up at every document verification for migrant families. Your state of origin is the state where your family ordinarily resided when your community was first scheduled there, usually at the time of the 1950 Presidential Orders or a later order for newer states. Children born after the family moved still take their status from that state.

Central recruitment reservation: why central jobs are different

Central government posts are open to all citizens irrespective of domicile or place of birth, as the government's reservation instructions have said since 1950. Central recruitment reservation is therefore not tied to the state you live in. For all-India recruitment by the Staff Selection Commission, the Union Public Service Commission or the Railway Recruitment Boards, an SC or ST candidate from any state can compete for reserved vacancies, using a certificate that shows the community is SC or ST in the state of origin.

So, on SC ST migrant reservation in a central job, a candidate whose family came from Bihar and who has lived in Mumbai since childhood is SC for an SSC notice, if the community is in Bihar's list and the certificate says so. The same candidate is not SC for a Maharashtra state government job.

There is one nuance. For local or regional recruitment to Group C posts, the reservation percentages follow the SC and ST population of that state or region. The posts are still central, and candidates from other states can apply. If a regional recruitment rejects a migrant SC candidate only because the certificate is from another state, read the notice carefully, because that is a question the notice itself may answer.

Promotions within central service are another matter again. Once you are appointed as an SC or ST candidate, your status follows you in the reservation roster for promotion; questions about that roster are covered on our page on promotion rosters for SC, ST and PwBD employees.

SC and ST migrant reservation: who can claim what, and where

The migrant SC certificate: getting one in the state where you now live

You do not have to travel back to your ancestral district for a certificate. The central format for SC and ST certificates includes a paragraph specifically for persons who have migrated from one state or union territory to another. Under it, the authority in the place where you now ordinarily reside issues your certificate on the basis of the SC or ST certificate issued to your father or mother by the state of origin, naming that state, the issuing authority and the date.

A migrant SC certificate issued this way does not say you are SC in the new state. It says you belong to a community recognised as SC in the state of origin. That distinction is what central recruiting bodies look for. A certificate from the new state that simply says you are SC "in this state", for a community not in that state's list, is the commonest reason for rejection.

The authorities who can issue the certificate are listed in the format itself: District Magistrate, Additional District Magistrate, Collector, Deputy Commissioner, Sub-Divisional Magistrate, Taluka Magistrate or Executive Magistrate, Revenue Officers not below the rank of Tehsildar, and the Sub-Divisional Officer of the area where you or your family normally reside, among others. The phrase "ordinarily reside" carries the meaning given in Section 20 of the Representation of the People Act, 1950, which is about where you actually live, not just a temporary stay.

The officer may make an inquiry if the parent's certificate looks doubtful. Expect to show the parent's original certificate, proof of the family's residence in the state of origin and your relationship to the parent. Where the parent never had a certificate, you may have to go to the state of origin after all.

Caste certificate from the other state: when the community is listed differently

Communities often appear in two states' lists under different names or spellings, or are SC in one state and OBC in another. A family that is SC in Punjab under one name may be OBC in Haryana under another. Officers in the new state sometimes issue a certificate under their own list, putting the candidate in the wrong category altogether.

For a central job, the question is always what the community is in the state of origin. If your origin state lists it as SC, you need an SC certificate tracing to that state, even if the new state treats the same people as OBC. If the community is OBC in the state of origin, you are OBC for central purposes, subject to the creamy layer test and the central OBC list.

Spelling differences cause their own problems at verification. If your certificate spells the caste differently from the Presidential Order, attach a copy of the relevant entry in the order with the variant spelling marked, or get the issuing officer to note the entry number. Small differences that are plainly the same community should not lead to rejection, but they will if no one explains them. Our guide on state and central format certificates covers the same issue for OBC candidates.

Two practical tips from Advocate B.K. Singh

Start from your father's or mother's certificate. When a migrant candidate brings a rejected SC or ST claim, Advocate B.K. Singh first asks for the parent's caste certificate from the state of origin. If it exists and is genuine, most problems with the candidate's own certificate can be cured by getting a fresh one in the central migrant format based on it. If it does not exist, the family needs to start in the state of origin, and that takes time. Find out which situation you are in long before the next notice.

Match three names on every document. His second tip is mechanical but saves many claims: check that the caste name, the state of origin and the parent's name are the same on the parent's certificate, your certificate and your application form. A candidate who writes "Delhi" as the state of origin in the online form because that is where he lives, while his certificate says Rajasthan, invites a rejection at verification that should never have happened.

Why migrant SC and ST claims fail at document verification

Most rejections come from a handful of causes. The certificate is in a state format rather than the central format. It was issued by an officer not on the list, such as a block officer or a councillor. It shows the community as SC in the new state where it is not listed. It omits the state of origin. Or it was issued after the closing date, when the notice required it by then.

On timing, the Supreme Court's recent decisions favour the recruiting body. In Sakshi Arha v. Rajasthan High Court, 2025 INSC 463, it held that the category certificate must be held by the closing date where the notice says so, and in Mohit Kumar v. State of U.P. (2025), that the prescribed format binds candidates. A certificate obtained after rejection may be treated as too late, even if the candidate's status was never in doubt.

There is still room to argue where the status was genuine and in hand before the closing date, and only the form was defective, for example a certificate issued in time that named the wrong state through a clerical slip. Such cases turn on their facts and on the exact words of the notice. They are worth a careful look, not an automatic challenge.

Some rejections are simply wrong: a verification officer who refuses any certificate from a state other than the candidate's address, in an all-India recruitment, has misread the rules. A written representation to the regional office, with the notice and the certificate format attached, often fixes this. Our SSC document verification checklist lists the other documents that cause trouble at the same stage.

If your SC or ST claim was rejected in central recruitment

Move fast. Recruitment lists are finalised within weeks, and courts are slow to disturb selections once candidates have joined.

1. Get the reason in writing

   Ask the regional office of the recruiting body for the exact reason: format, issuing officer, state named, date of issue or doubts about genuineness. Keep the rejection notice or screenshot of the result.

2. Assemble the family chain

   Collect your parent's certificate from the state of origin, your own certificate, proof of the family's earlier residence there (land records, ration card, voter list entries, school records) and your birth certificate showing the parent's name.

3. Fix the certificate if you can

   If the defect is one of form, ask the issuing authority for a corrected certificate in the central migrant format. Note that a certificate dated after the closing date may not be accepted, so this step works best where the original was issued in time.

4. Write a focused representation

   Send the recruiting body a short representation explaining the migrant position, attaching the notice clause, the original certificate, the parent's certificate and any corrected certificate. Ask for your claim to be reconsidered before the final list.

5. Check your place in the general list

   If your marks clear the general cut-off, you may be selected anyway. Our guide on reserved candidates with open merit explains how that works.

6. Take advice on the tribunal

   If the representation fails or there is no reply before the list is finalised, an Original Application with a request to keep one post vacant may be needed. The one-year limit applies, but waiting even a few months can make the relief meaningless.

Documents a migrant SC or ST candidate should keep ready

Where a rejection is challenged

Recruitment to central civil posts falls within the Central Administrative Tribunal under Section 14 of the Administrative Tribunals Act, 1985, and a candidate need not be an employee yet to file. The Original Application is filed under Section 19 at the bench with jurisdiction over the candidate's residence or the place of recruitment. A candidate living in Ahmedabad who was rejected by the SSC's western regional office would ordinarily go to the Ahmedabad or Mumbai Bench depending on where the cause arose; settle this before drafting.

Delhi government posts recruited through DSSSB are also heard by the tribunal, at the Principal Bench. In September 2024 the Delhi High Court upheld a tribunal order directing appointment of an SC candidate whose certificate was issued by Rajasthan, describing Delhi as a territory of migrants. Our guide on DSSSB recruitment disputes at the Principal Bench explains that route.

Some recruitment does not go to the tribunal. Banks recruiting through IBPS, public sector undertakings and most universities are outside its jurisdiction, and disputes go to the High Court; see our page on CAPF, PSU and bank staff. State government jobs go to the State Administrative Tribunal where one exists, or the High Court, and there the migrant rule usually defeats the claim.

Section 21 gives one year from the final rejection, but in recruitment cases that year is mostly theoretical. Once appointments are made, a tribunal is slow to unseat a selected candidate, and the realistic relief may shrink to consideration in a later vacancy.

How long it takes and what it costs

Marriage, children of mixed marriages and religion

Caste comes by birth. A woman from a general category family who marries an SC man does not become SC, and a certificate issued to her on that basis can be cancelled. The Supreme Court said so in Sunita Singh v. State of U.P. (2018), following its earlier view in Valsamma Paul (1996) on backward classes. Many such certificates were issued in the past; they are vulnerable at any time.

Children of an inter-caste marriage are a harder question. In Rameshbhai Dabhai Naika v. State of Gujarat (2012), the Supreme Court said there is no rigid rule that the child takes the father's caste; the question is how the child was brought up and treated by the community. Such claims need evidence and often an inquiry, so do not leave them to the week before a closing date.

Religion also matters for SC status. Under the Constitution (Scheduled Castes) Order, 1950, a person professing a religion other than Hinduism, Sikhism or Buddhism is not treated as SC. There is no similar religion bar for STs. A family that converted, or reconverted, may face questions about status that have nothing to do with migration.

What happens if a certificate is later found to be wrong

A reserved post obtained on a certificate later found to be false is not protected by length of service. In Chairman and Managing Director, FCI v. Jagdish Balaram Bahira (2017), the Supreme Court held that a person who secured appointment on a false caste claim cannot keep the benefit, even after many years. Caste scrutiny committees, set up after Kumari Madhuri Patil (1994), verify claims in many states.

A genuine migrant is not in this position merely because the certificate was issued in the new state. The risk is for families whose certificate claims SC status in a state where the community is not listed, or which rests on marriage or a convenient address. If your certificate has that weakness, correct it now, while you can show your state of origin, rather than after a complaint years into service.

If you already hold a central post and receive a notice questioning your caste certificate, treat it as seriously as a chargesheet. Reply in writing with the family chain of documents, ask for any inquiry report relied on, and take advice before the reply goes.

What to do this week

Find your parent's certificate from the state of origin, check the Presidential Order entry for your community there, and look at your own certificate: is it in the central format, does it name the state of origin, and was it issued by a listed officer? If any answer is no, apply for a fresh certificate in the migrant format before the next notice closes.

If your claim has already been rejected, get the reason in writing, collect the documents listed above and act within days. Our page on SC, ST, OBC or EWS status not accepted explains how such rejections are tested, and our guide on category changes at document verification covers the related problem of being shifted to the general list. If the issue arose in Delhi government recruitment, our page on the Principal Bench is the right starting point.

For advice on your certificate, notice or rejection, or for updates on the law on migrant reservation, you can contact Advocate B.K. Singh. We can go through the family papers with you and tell you honestly whether a representation, a fresh certificate or a tribunal case is the better course.