In Brief
The State of Odisha and the High Court disagreed on whether members of the 'Kuli' community could claim Scheduled Tribe status under the designation 'Kulis' in the statutory list. The State argued that 'Kulis' and 'Kuli' were separate tribes, so only 'Kulis' qualified. The Court held that no separate community called 'Kulis' exists in Odisha; only 'Kuli' exists. Historical records, official documents, and a Census report treated the terms interchangeably. The Court concluded that 'Kulis' is merely the plural form of 'Kuli', not a distinct tribe. Interpreting them separately would effectively delete a tribe from the Scheduled Tribes list—something no court can do. Therefore, the term 'Kulis' includes all members of the 'Kuli' community.
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