The Kerala High Court has given the state government one more month to decide whether it will conduct a socio-economic caste survey across the state, after the government said the matter requires cabinet approval. The court adjourned a contempt petition filed by the Minority Indians Planning and Vigilance Commission Trust to January 7 and directed the government to submit a further affidavit setting out its decision.
A bench comprising Chief Justice Soumen Sen and Justice V M Syam Kumar recorded the state government’s submission that a statewide survey would require a policy decision covering the scope of the exercise, the proposed course of action and the data to be collected. The government also said the process would need to be undertaken in consultation with the Kerala State Commission for Backward Classes.
The contempt petition relates to an earlier court order concerning inadequate representation of backward classes in public services and the state’s failure to conduct a socio-economic survey under the Kerala State Backward Classes Act. The trust alleged that the government had not complied with the earlier direction.
In an affidavit filed before the court, the Backward Classes Development Department said caste data from the Socio-Economic and Caste Census 2011 had not been made available to the state government. As a result, the department said, the state would have to undertake the exercise of finalising the socio-economic study afresh.
The court, however, noted that the non-furnishing of raw SECC-2011 data by the Union government did not prevent Kerala from preparing its own state list. The bench also observed that the state had not explained why it had failed to discharge its responsibility of finalising the study for almost five years.
The additional advocate general told the court that the matter had now been taken up with the Backward Classes Development Department and that the government would take immediate steps. A further affidavit is expected to clarify whether the state will proceed with the survey and, if so, what its scope and data requirements will be.
The court’s order places the next procedural responsibility with the state government and its cabinet. Any decision will determine whether Kerala begins a fresh statewide exercise or adopts another route to address the data gap connected with backward-class representation in public services.
