CCTOA panel rejects ST status proposal for six Assam communities

Guwahati, Jan 7: The Consultative Group of the Coordination Committee of Tribal Organizations of Assam (CCTOA) on Tuesday submitted its recommendations to the chairperson of the Group of Ministers (GoM), Dr Ranoj Pegu, rejecting the proposal to grant Scheduled Tribe (ST) status to six communities in the State – Tai Ahom, Chutia, Moran, Motok, Koch-Rajbongshi and Tea tribes.

The recommendations were formally handed over at 6.30 pm, following detailed deliberations by the Consultative Group on the November 2025 report of the Committee of Group of Ministers examining various aspects of reservation for the six communities. The Consultative Group had been constituted during a CCTOA meeting held on December 21, 2025.

In its submission, the Consultative Group stated that the GoM’s recommendation for inclusion of the six communities in the ST list is unconstitutional, historically untenable and politically motivated.

It argued that Scheduled Castes (SCs) and Scheduled Tribes (STs) are constitutionally distinct categories and that ST status is based on specific tribal characteristics such as primitive traits, distinctive culture, geographical isolation and social backwardness, as laid down by the Lokur Committee in 1965.

The Group asserted that none of the six communities meet these criteria and all of them have been identified as Other Backward Classes (OBCs) by the National Commission for Backward Classes on the basis of research made by the State government. Reclassification of the same communities as STs by the same State government was termed legally impermissible.

Citing historical records, the Consultative Group noted that successive committees since Independence, including the Constituent Assembly’s sub-committee chaired by Gopinath Bordoloi and the Lokur Committee, had categorically rejected the inclusion of Tea and ex-Tea Garden Tribes in the ST list, primarily on the ground that they are not indigenous to Assam. Different arguments were made against the inclusion of Tai Ahoms, Chutias, Morans, Mataks and Koch-Rajbongshis, all of whom, the Group said, have long been part of mainstream Assamese society.

The submission also criticized the expert committees constituted by the Assam government after 2009, alleging that they lacked independence and were comprised of experts recommended by the concerned communities themselves. It further referred to the rejection of ST status by the Registrar General of India in 2007, which had held that the State government’s claims were mechanical and unsupported by ethnographic evidence.

The Consultative Group warned that granting ST status to the six communities would severely dilute the political and constitutional rights of existing Scheduled Tribes in Assam. It said, such a move would adversely affect reservation in panchayats, autonomous councils, autonomous district councils, the State assembly and Parliament, besides pushing overall reservation in the State beyond the Supreme Court-mandated 50 per cent ceiling.

The Group maintained that the existing OBC reservation of 27 per cent, along with several autonomous and development councils already constituted for these communities, adequately safeguards their socio-economic interests. It alleged that the demand for ST status is primarily aimed at securing political reservation.

In conclusion, the Consultative Group urged that the GoM’s recommendation to grant ST status to the six communities be rejected in its entirety and formally communicated as such to the concerned authorities.

The recommendations were signed by chairperson Suhas Chakma and members, including senior advocates, retired IAS and ACS officers, and Rabha Hasong Autonomous Council CEM Tankeswar Rabha.

After the upcoming Magh Bihu, a delegation representing the tribal organizations of Assam will go to Delhi and hold talks with the national leaders, the Registrar General of India, and the National Commission for the Scheduled Tribes.