"Centre Must Know": Supreme Court Junks Plea Against Caste Census

The Supreme Court on Wednesday dismissed a public interest litigation (PIL) petition seeking exclusion of caste enumeration from the upcoming population census.

"Govt must know how many people are there in backward castes for welfare measures", the Supreme Court said dismissing a petition against caste-enumeration in the upcoming Census.

The Bench of Chief Justice of India (CJI) Surya Kant and Justices Joymalya Bagchi and Vipul Pancholi said that the issue lies within the policy domain of the government and courts cannot intervene.

"Whether census should be caste or not caste based is a policy decision. Government has to know how many (people) are backward for welfare measures etc," the CJI remarked.

The Bench then proceeded to dismiss the plea filed by one Sudhakar Gummula. "This is policy matter. No reason to intervene. Dismissed," the order said.

The petitioner-in-person contended that caste-based data collection could potentially be misused by agencies and may lead to social and political complications.

"There are endless possibilities of politicians and corporate entities misusing the caste data. There is no justification for gathering such a large tract of data on caste," Gummula submitted.

The Chief Justice said it was not within the court's domain to decide whether a caste enumeration should necessarily be a part of Census 2027 or not.

"This issue exclusively comes within the policy domain," the CJI said before the court dismissed the petition.

The Court further remarked that the government may legitimately require such data to determine the extent and composition of backward classes and other social groups.

Holding that no ground for judicial interference was made out, the Bench dismissed the petition, observing that the issue pertains to policy considerations beyond the scope of judicial review in the present case.