Supreme Court Dismisses PIL Against Caste Census, Says Govt Must Know Number Of Backward Castes
Rejecting a PIL against caste enumeration in the forthcoming Census, the Supreme Court said the issue falls within the government’s policy domain. CJI Surya Kant observed that authorities must know the population of backward classes to design welfare schemes.
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New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Wednesday dismissed a public interest litigation (PIL) petition challenging the Centre's decision to undertake caste enumeration as part of the upcoming Census, observing that the government must know the number of persons belonging to backward castes to frame welfare measures.
A Bench led by Chief Justice of India (CJI) Surya Kant and comprising Justices Joymalya Bagchi and Vipul Pancholi said the issue lies within the policy domain of the government and courts cannot intervene.
"The government must know how many people are there in backward castes for welfare measures," the Supreme Court said while dismissing the petition.
The petitioner-in-person argued that the collection of caste data could be susceptible to misuse, particularly if such information were to fall into the hands of corporate entities and politicians. According to him, there was no justification for collecting caste data, Live Law reported.
"These are all policy matters, whether census should be caste-based or not. What is wrong with it? Any day's government must know how many people are backward class, what kind of welfare measures are to be taken for them. It is within the policy domain," the CJI said.
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