'Domain of governance': SC refuses to entertain plea for caste census

The Supreme Court on Monday refused to entertain a plea seeking direction to the Centre for conducting a socio-economic caste census for the welfare of backward and other marginalised sections, saying the issue falls in the domain of governance.

A bench of Justices Hrishikesh Roy and SVN Bhatti allowed the petitioner P Prasad Naidu to withdraw his plea in which he had sought a direction for expediting the enumeration of data for census.

"What can be done about this? The issue is in the domain of governance. It is a policy matter," the bench told senior advocate Ravishankar Jandyala and advocate Sravan Kumar Karanam, appearing for the petitioner.

Jandyala submitted that several countries have done it but India is yet to do.

"The Indra Sawhney judgement of 1992 (Mandal Commission verdict) has said that this census has to be done periodically," he contended.

The bench told him it was dismissing the petition as the court could not interfere in the issue.

Sensing the mood of the court, the counsel sought permission to withdraw the plea, which was allowed by the bench.

Naidu in his plea filed through Karanam said that Centre and its agencies have not conducted the enumeration for the Census-2021 till date.

"Initially it was not done due to Covid-19 pandemic and subsequently it has been postponed time and again. That the enumeration of the census of the country for 2021 was initiated in April, 2019. But it was not concluded till date. It is humbly submitted that as per the official website of the Census of India, the first preparatory meeting for conducting Census 2021 was held on April 9, 2019," the plea said.

It said thereafter, the process of enumeration for census has been getting postponed multiple times.

The plea added that the census is not just a population growth tracker, but it also provides a comprehensive socio-economic data of the people of the country that can be used in policy-making, economic planning and for various administrative purposes.

"It is the largest repository of statistical information on various characteristics of the Indian population gender, age, income, occupation, migration patterns, etc. For instance, census is the only source of primary data for each village, town and ward in India. The delay in the census has resulted in a major data gap as the last census was conducted in 2011 i.e. 13 years ago," the plea added.

It said a socio-economic caste census would help identify disadvantaged groups, ensure equitable resource distribution and monitor the implementation of targeted policies.

"The last caste-wise data from 1931 is outdated. Accurate data from the census and Socio-Economic and Caste Census (SECC) is crucial for the Union government to achieve social justice and constitutional objectives. For the first time in post-independence, the SECC conducted in 2011 aimed to gather comprehensive data on socio-economic indicators, including caste information," it said.

The plea added that concerns over the quality of data and classification challenges have prevented the release and effective utilisation of the raw caste data and an expert group was formed to classify and categorise this data, but its recommendations are yet to be released by the Union government.