SC refuses to entertain plea seeking drop-down menu for OBC castes in Census 2027

The Supreme Court declined to entertain a plea seeking a pre-loaded OBC caste drop-down menu in Census 2027 digital tools. The bench termed the matter a policy decision and allowed the petitioner to approach the Registrar General and Census Commissioner

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Wednesday refused to entertain a plea seeking a direction to introduce a pre-loaded drop-down menu for OBC castes in the digital enumeration tools for Census 2027 instead of requiring individuals to manually enter their caste.

A bench of Chief Justice of India (CJI) Surya Kant and Justices Joymalya Bagchi and V Mohana said the issue pertains to a policy decision.

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“We dispose of this petition while granting liberty to the petitioner to approach Registrar General and Census Commissioner to whom a copy of this petition may be sent as representation,” the bench said.

The counsel appearing for the petitioner, OBC Federation of India, submitted that a drop-down menu may be added to the digital census that is being conducted.

The Registrar General of India (RGI) has decided to use an “open-ended question on caste” rather than a drop-down menu for the caste census to be conducted alongside the population enumeration phase of the Census.