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The Court was hearing a PIL seeking proportionate representation of Scheduled Tribes in the legislative assemblies of West Bengal and Sikkim.
Extending tax exemptions to long-time settlers could undermine the state’s special rights, ethnic Sikkimese say.
According to Article 371F, only the descendants of Sikkim subjects (those who lived in the state before its merger with India) whose names were mentioned in the 1961 register are Sikkimese with rights to own land, get state government jobs.
The Supreme Court, hearing a case about income tax exemption, observed that the state's majority community – Sikkimese Nepalis – were "persons of foreign origin". After statewide outrage, it has now agreed to amend the section.