Caste survey battle shifts to high court: CJ-led bench to hear plea for stay on Tuesday

The caste census battle has shifted to the high court with the organisations representing the Lingayats, Vokkaligas and Brahmins, among others, challenging the state government’s authority to conduct the socio-economic and educational survey.

A division bench comprising Chief Justice Vibhu Bakhru and Justice CM Joshi will on Tuesday hear arguments to decide on the requests for an interim stay to the survey that began on Monday.

Senior Advocate Prabhuling Navadgi said the government was seeking to identify people who are socially and educationally backward, which was contrary to Article 342 (A) (that deals with the subject of socially and educationally backward classes). The government’s method of gathering data by geo-tagging and linking it with Aadhaar card of citizens violated the provisions of the Aadhaar Act, he added.

Senior advocate Jayakumar Patil argued that the state was trying to conduct census operations throughout the state in the name of conducting a survey. The census operation fell within the domain of the Centre and the state had no competence to do it. Additional Solicitor General Aravind Kamath said what the government was seeking to do was census and the state cannot do it.

Senior advocate Ashok Haranahalli said the enumeration exercise could only lead to a recommendation to include or exclude a caste, and nothing beyond that.

Senior advocate Vivek Subba Reddy said the real motive behind the exercise was to know the community-wise population for political purposes and political manipulation.Senior advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi, appearing for the state, opposed requests for an interim stay saying the courts never gave such a stay to the earlier surveys. The government, he said, has already drafted thousands of people on the job and the petitioners cannot seek a stay at this stage.He also maintained that the exercise being undertaken was a survey, and not a census as was being made out, and insisted that the state had the jurisdiction to carry out the socio-economic and educational survey and collect the data as upheld in the Indra Sawhney case.

Singhvi also maintained that the survey was essential for implementation of the state’s welfare schemes.

Senior advocate Ravivarma Kumar, appearing for Karnataka State Permanent Backward Classes Commission, said the state’s laws permitted collecting data. The Commission is carrying out the 15-day survey.

Swami Nirmalanandanatha, the head of the Vokkaliga mutt of Adichunchanagiri, has expressed doubts over the government’s ability to cover the state’s 7 crore population in 15 days as the neighbouring Telangana took 65 days to survey the state’s 3.5 crore population.