Himachal Pradesh High Court on Thursday (4th January) issued an interim order staying the notification about granting tribal status to the Hattee community passed by the state government.
Earlier on Monday Himachal Pradesh government issued a notification granting Scheduled Tribe (ST) status to the Hattee Community of Sirmaur district’s Transgiri area.
Who are Hattee Community? 
The Hattee community is spread across 154 panchayats and four Assembly constituencies Shillani, Paonta Sahib, Pachhad, and Shri Renukaji and had a 2.5 Lakh population as per the 2011 census now their population is around 3 Lakh. They are considered very important in Himachal Politics.
They got their name name” Hattee” from their traditional profession of selling vegetables, crops meat, wool, etc at small markets called “Haat”.
Why are they demanding Tribal Status?
Due to geographical barriers and other factors, this Community have lagged in education and employment since decades and are economically backward people. They have not seen much development since independence.
With the recognition of them as a Scheduled tribe, they will be able to get all the benefits provided to tribal people, especially reservation in educational institutions and government jobs.
They have been demanding Scheduled Tribe Status since 1967 when other people in Jaunsar Bawar in Uttarakhand got tribal status. Since the Jaunsar region shares a border with the Sirmaur district where Hattee people live, they also started demanding tribal status.
What steps have been taken till now?
Rajya Sabha on 26 July 2023 passed a bill to accord the Scheduled Tribe status to the Hattee community in Sirmour district of Himachal Pradesh.
The bill received approval in the Lok Sabha on December 16, 2022, and has now been passed in the Upper House by a Voice vote.
The community has been demonstrating against the state government for failing to notify them as a Scheduled Tribe and to put the Constitution (Scheduled Tribes) Order (Second Amendment) Act, 2023 into effect.
Recently on Monday, after so much delay State government issued the notification to give ST (Scheduled Tribe) status to them.
