The Supreme Court issued a notice to the Centre in response to a petition requesting a caste-based census for OBCs.
The Supreme Court has asked the Centre and others to respond to a petition seeking instructions for a caste-based census for Other Backward Classes (OBCs) in the forthcoming Census.
A bench consisting of the Chief Justice, D.Y. Chandrachud, and Justice P.S. Narasimha issued notices to the Centre, Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, and others, for responses.
In addition, the court linked the matter to a comparable case now before it.
The apex court was hearing a petition filed by advocate Krishan Kanhaya Pal, who argued that governments are unable to share the benefits of welfare schemes with all sections of backward classes due to the absence of a caste-based survey and that a caste-based census of the OBCs is of “vital necessity.”
The petition argued that it is impossible to establish concrete policies without precise data.
Pal had indicated that despite the announcement made by then-Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh in 2018, there will be a census of the OBC community during the 2021 Census, but the administration abstained from tabling the 2017-established Rohini Commission’s findings.
