The Supreme Court on Wednesday refused to entertain a plea seeking a pre-loaded drop-down menu of OBC castes in the digital tools for Census 2027, instead of requiring respondents to enter their caste manually.
A bench comprising Chief Justice of India Surya Kant and Justices Joymalya Bagchi and V Mohana said the matter involved a policy decision and disposed of the petition filed by the OBC Federation of India.
The bench granted the petitioner liberty to approach the Registrar General and Census Commissioner, directing that a copy of the petition be sent to the authorities as a representation.
Appearing for the petitioner, counsel sought the introduction of a drop-down menu listing OBC castes in the digital census tools.
The Registrar General of India has opted for an open-ended question on caste rather than a pre-loaded menu for the caste enumeration, which will be conducted alongside the population enumeration phase of Census 2027.
(With inputs from PTI)