The Supreme Court has set aside two orders of the
Madras High Court, directing the Centre to conduct a caste-based census,
holding that it should not have interfered in the domain of policy.
Endorsing
the instruction manual provision that referred to public participation
in the census as a “true reflection of the national spirit of unity in
diversity,” the Supreme Court said the High Court, while passing such a
direction, had “tried to inject the concept of social justice” on its
own.
In its 23-page judgment on Friday Nov 07,2014, a Bench led
by Justice Dipak Misra noted that the true objective of the Census was
building a source of all welfare schemes, and not a “mere
information-collection” exercise. The verdict comes on a special leave
petition by the Census Commissioner against decisions of the Madras High
Court in 2008 and 2010, directing holding of caste-wise census in a
time-bound manner.
“The High Court not only travelled
beyond the list in the first round of litigation but also had really
yielded to some kind of emotional perspective, possibly paving the
adventurous path to innovate. It is legally impermissible,” Justice
Misra wrote.
The Supreme Court held that the government policy allowed enumeration of
members of the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes but no other
castes.
In Census 2011, no question on enumeration of other castes had
been included.
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