The Supreme Court on Monday said it broadly shared concerns that depending only on the self-declaration of caste in the proposed 2027 census could affect the accuracy of data, according to reports.
At the same time, the court clarified that decisions on how caste enumeration should be carried out fall within the domain of census authorities and subject experts.
A bench led by Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi said it would not step into the technical details of the census exercise, but asked the Centre and the authorities conducting the census to take into account the issues that had been highlighted. The observations came while hearing a public interest litigation filed by Delhi resident Aakash Goel.
The petitioner made it clear that he was not opposing the inclusion of caste in the census, but raised concerns over the lack of publicly available criteria or a standardised method for recording, classifying and verifying caste identities, Scroll.in reported.
His counsel argued that caste data would have far-reaching implications for welfare schemes, reservation policies in government jobs and educational institutions, as well as the delimitation of parliamentary and assembly constituencies, and therefore needed to be based on verifiable material, the Times of India reported.
The Chief Justice acknowledged the validity of these concerns, noting that information should not be accepted or rejected on the basis of certificates whose authenticity might be uncertain or unverified. However, while disposing of the petition, the court said it had no reason to believe that the authorities would fail to put in place a strong mechanism to prevent the kinds of errors pointed out by the petitioner.
The court subsequently directed the Union government, the Registrar General and Census Commissioner of India, and the Directorate of Census Operations to examine the suggestions and concerns raised in the petition.
India is scheduled to carry out its population census, including caste enumeration, in two phases in 2027. The previous census was conducted in 2011. Although preparations for the next census were to begin in 2020 with the housing survey, the process was postponed due to the Covid-19 pandemic. On April 30, the Cabinet Committee on Political Affairs cleared the inclusion of caste enumeration in the upcoming census.
Opposition parties have been pressing for a nationwide caste census, arguing that it would provide a clearer picture of the population of Other Backward Classes and other communities, which could then inform policy decisions such as expanding reservations in employment and education.