By Bhupen Goswami

Guwahati : In a landmark judgment , the Supreme Court on Thursday ruled that Scheduled Caste (SC) and Scheduled Tribe (ST) reservation quota can be availed only in home state. This ruling of the Supreme Court is bound to have a telling and adverse effect on the entire Northeast as a major population of the north-eastern region belongs to the reserved categories and people migrates extensively within the states of the north-eastern region for studies or jobs . If people with SC or ST reservation quota migrates from home state to another for the purpose of employment or education they forfeits the privilege of the quota, the apex court had stated. However, the court ruled that ‘pan-India reservation’ would apply in the case of Delhi.This means that in the national capital reservation will be open to all SCs and STs from across the country for both central government services and those under the union territory. A five-judge bench of Justices Ranjan Gogoi, N V Ramana, R Banumathi, M M Shantanagoudar and S Abdul Nazeer noted on Thursday that a particular community is notified as SC or ST in relation to a state and that concept would become “nugatoy” (of no value) if migrants from other states are in its ambit.