SC refuses to entertain PIL questioning procedures to record caste of citizens in 2027 census

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Monday refused to entertain a PIL questioning the procedure to be adopted to record, classify and verify the caste data of citizens in the 2027 general census.

The top court, however, asked the Centre and the office of the Registrar General and Census Commissioner, India to consider the suggestions made by PIL petitioner Aakash Goel, an academician, on the issue.

Goel, represented by senior advocate Mukta Gupta, said a transparent questionnaire, to be used for recording, classifying and verifying the caste details of the citizens, has to be placed in public domain.

The senior advocate alleged that the Directorate of Census Operations has not disclosed the criteria for recording the caste identity of citizens "notwithstanding the acknowledgement that caste enumeration has extended beyond the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled tribes this time”.

The bench told the PIL petitioner there is “no pre-determined data” to identify the caste data.

“The census exercise is regulated under the Census Act, 1958 and the 1990 Rules framed thereunder which empowers the respondent authorities to determine the particular and manners of census operations,” the bench noted.

“We have no reason to doubt that respondent authority with aid and assistance of domain experts must have evolved a robust mechanism in order to rule out any mistake as apprehended by the petitioner and several like-minded persons. We find the petitioner has raised some relevant issues through representation to the Registrar General of Census operations …as well,” the CJI said.

The bench said authorities may consider the suggestions raised in the legal notice and the petition and disposed of the PIL.

The 2027 Census, officially the 16th national census, will be the first to include comprehensive caste enumeration since 1931 and the country's first fully digital census.