proposed caste census – File photo New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Monday recorded its agreement with a petitioner that self-declaration of caste identity by an individual cannot help in accurate determination of SC, ST and OBC population during the proposed caste census in 2027. Advocate Mukta Gupta, appearing for social activist Akash Goyal, told a bench of CJI Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi that the Directorate of Census Operations, which has started preparatory work for Census 2027, “has not made any disclosure. ” Pre-determined criteria or standardized method for recording the caste identity of people belonging to SC, ST and OBC categories during the census.

Since caste-enumeration will play a huge role in formulating and implementing social welfare measures, reservation in government employment and admissions in educational institutions, and delimitation of parliamentary and assembly constituencies, it should be scientifically unwise to collect the data, the PIL petitioner said. The CJI-led bench said, “In principle we agree with you but that is the job of the experts. And it is their job to formulate the method and method of carrying out the caste enumeration.

” Although the Supreme Court did not consider the petition, it asked Gupta to submit the petition in the form of representation to the Directorate of Census Operations for necessary action. In its order, the bench said, “We have no reason to doubt that the respondent authorities, with the assistance of domain experts, committed any mistake.

“A robust mechanism would have been developed to reject errors (in the caste enumeration), as feared by the petitioner. ” The petitioner has raised relevant issues through earlier representations.

We dispose of the writ petition with directions to the respondent authorities to consider the suggestions/issues raised by the petitioner,” the court said.