The Supreme Court observed that ‘affinity test’ cannot be applied as a litmus test during scrutiny of caste claims.
“If an applicant is able to produce authentic and genuine documents of the per Constitution period showing that he belongs to a tribal community, there is no reason to discard his or her claim as prior to 1950, there were no reservations provided to the Tribes included in the Constitution (Scheduled Tribes) Order”, the bench of Justices observed.