Scheduled Tribe status turns on the Presidential list, and courts cannot expand it through translation or equivalence.

Article 342 makes the Presidential specification of Scheduled Tribes conclusive, subject only to parliamentary amendment, and courts cannot add to, subtract from, or substitute entries in the notified list. Evidence may be used only to verify whether a community falls within the existing notification. The English text of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes Order, 1950 is authoritative under Article 348(1)(b), so a mistranslated Hindi version cannot expand Scheduled Tribe status. On that basis, Lohar could not be treated as a Scheduled Tribe or as synonymous with Lohara/Lohra, because the notified entry remained Lohara/Lohra.

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Issues: Whether the Court could treat the Lohar community as a Scheduled Tribe on the basis of the Hindi translation of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes Order, 1950 as amended, and whether the Court could declare Lohar as synonymous with Lohara/Lohra for the purposes of Scheduled Tribe status.

Analysis: Article 342 makes the Presidential specification of Scheduled Tribes conclusive, subject only to parliamentary amendment, and Article 366(25) ties Scheduled Tribe status to that constitutional scheme. The Court may look at evidence only to verify whether a community is included in the notified list, but it cannot add to, subtract from, or substitute entries in the Presidential Order. The English text of the Schedule is the authoritative version under Article 348(1)(b); the Hindi version for Bihar contained a mistranslation, and the notified entry was Lohara/Lohra, not Lohar. The earlier contrary understanding was treated as a mistaken assumption based on an incorrect translation and concession, and could not override the authoritative statutory text.

Conclusion: The Court held that Lohar is not a Scheduled Tribe and that no declaration could be granted treating Lohar as equivalent to Lohara/Lohra.

Ratio Decidendi: Courts cannot alter the Presidential list of Scheduled Tribes by treating a different community as a synonym or equivalent of a notified tribe; only Parliament can amend the list, and the authoritative statutory text prevails over a mistaken translation.

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