SCs, STs and OBCs cannot claim the benefits of reservation if they migrate from one state to another if the caste/tribe to which they belong are not recognized as a reserved community in the adopted state, the Supreme Court has ruled.

Further, a migrant SC or ST also cannot claim a reserved status in OBC quota in another state, the apex court said.

"Persons belonging to a particular caste or tribe may suffer disadvantages in one state but may not suffer the same disadvantages in the other. Our Constitutional scheme, therefore, seeks to identify the social and economic backwardness of people having regard to the state or union territory as a unit.

"The same principle applies to even minorities as has been laid down by an eleven-judge bench of this court in T M A Pai Foundation and others case," a bench of Justices S B Sinha and Cyriac Joseph observed.

The apex court made the remarks while dismissing pleas by certain migrant SC, STs candidates challenging the refusal of the Delhi administration to grant them benefits of reservation in Government jobs.