Ascertaining ST Status
            Where a person claims to belong to a scheduled tribe by birth, it should be verified: (a) that
      the person and his parents actually belong to the community claimed; (b) that the community is
      included in the Presidential Order specifying the scheduled tribes in relation to the concerned
      state; (c) that the person belongs to that state and the area within that state in respect of which the
      community has been scheduled; (d) he may profess any religion; (e) that he or his parents/
      grandparents, etc., should be permanent resident of the state/UT on the date of notification of the
      Presidential Order applicable in his case; (f) a person who is temporarily away from his
      permanent place of residence at the time of the notification of the Presidential Order-applicable
      in his case, say for example to earn a living or seek education, etc., can also be regarded as a
      scheduled tribe, if his tribe has been specified in that order in relation to his home state/union
      territory; (g) but he cannot be treated as such in relation to the place of his temporary residence
      notwithstanding the fact that the name of his tribe has been scheduled in respect of that state
      where he is temporarily settled, in any Presidential Order; (h) in the case of persons born after
      the date of notification of the relevant Presidential Order, the place of residence for the purpose
      of acquiring ST status, is the place of permanent abode of their parents at the time of the
      notification of the Presidential Order under which they claim to belong to such a tribe. This does
      not apply to the STs of the Lakshadweep Islands for whom there is a requirement of being born
      in the union territories in order to be eligible for ST status.
            The guiding principle is that no person who is not a scheduled tribe by birth will be deemed
      to be a member of scheduled tribe merely because he or she has married a person belonging to a
      scheduled tribe. Similarly, a person who is a member of a scheduled tribe will continue to be a
      member of that scheduled tribe, even after his or her marriage with a person who does not belong
      to a scheduled tribe. The candidates belonging to scheduled tribes may get scheduled tribe
      certificates, in the prescribed form, from any one of the following authorities: District
      Magistrate/Additional District Magistrate/ Collector/Deputy Commissioner/Additional Deputy
      Commissioner/Deputy Collector/1st Class Stipendiary Magistrate/City Magistrate/Sub
      Divisional Magistrate/Taluka Magistrate/Executive Magistrate/Extra Assistant Commissioner
      [not below the rank of 1st Class Stipendiary Magistrate]; (ii) Chief Presidency
      Magistrate/Additional Chief Presidency Magistrate/ Presidency Magistrate; (iii) Revenue
      Officers not below the rank of Tehsildar; (iv) Sub-Divisional Officer of the Area where the
      candidate and/or his family normally resides; (v) Administrator/ Secretary to the Administrator/
      Development Officer (Lakshadweep Islands).
            Action is to be taken under the relevant provisions of the Indian Penal Code if any official is
      found to have issued a Scheduled Tribe certificate carelessly and without proper verification.
      This will be in addition to other action to which they are liable under the appropriate disciplinary
      rules applicable to them.
      Scheduled Tribe claims on Migration
            Migrants from other states/union territories persons belonging to a scheduled tribe who have
      migrated from one state to another for the purpose of employment, education etc., experience
      great difficulty in obtaining ST certificates from the state from which they have migrated. In
      order to remove this difficulty, it has been decided that the prescribed authority of a state
      government/union territory administration may issue a scheduled tribe certificate to a person who
      migrated from another state, on the production of the genuine certificate issued to his