The Supreme Court on Monday said that it agreed “in principle” with concerns that relying solely on self-declaration of caste in the proposed 2027 census could compromise data accuracy, The Indian Express reported.
However, it held that the manner of caste enumeration was a matter for census authorities and domain experts to decide.
A bench of Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi declined to intervene in the technical aspects of the exercise, but asked the Centre and census authorities to consider the concerns that have been raised, Live Law reported.
The court was hearing a public interest litigation filed by Delhi resident Aakash Goel, The Indian Express reported.
The petitioner said that he was not opposed to the caste census but questioned the absence of any publicly disclosed criteria or standardised methodology for recording, classifying or verifying caste identity during the upcoming census.
The petitioner’s lawyer submitted that the caste data would have long-term consequences for welfare policies, reservations in government employment and educational institutions, and the delimitation of parliamentary and assembly constituencies. The lawyer argued that such data needed to be based on verifiable material, The Times of India reported.
Kant agreed that the concern was valid, observing that nothing should be included or excluded on the basis of “a certificate, the genuineness of which might be either doubtful or unverified”, The Indian Express reported.
In its order disposing of the petition, the Supreme Court said that it had no reason to doubt that the respondent authorities would evolve a “robust mechanism” to rule out the mistakes flagged by the petitioner.
It then directed the Union government, the registrar general and census commissioner of India, and the directorate of census operations to consider the petitioner’s suggestions and concerns, The Indian Express reported.
India will conduct its population census, including caste enumeration, in two phases in 2027.
The last decennial census exercise was held in 2011. In 2020, India was set to begin the first phase of the exercise – in which housing data is collected – but it had to be delayed as the coronavirus pandemic hit.
On April 30, the Cabinet Committee on Political Affairs approved the enumeration of caste in the next census.
The Opposition had been demanding a nationwide caste census. The proponents of such an exercise argue that it will help identify the true population of the country’s Other Backward Classes and other castes, in turn paving the way for policies such as expanded quotas in jobs and education.
Also read: ‘The Caste Con Census’: Anand Teltumbde argues that a nationwide caste census cannot annihilate it
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