The survey is slated to be carried out in two phases. The first phase, under which a household counting exercise was taken up, was conducted by the State government in January this year.
The second phase of the survey commenced on April 15, focusing on gathering data related to people’s caste and socio-economic conditions. The entire process was planned to be completed by May this year. However, on May 4, the High Court had stayed the caste census.
A Bench of Chief Justice K Vinod Chandran and Justice Madhuresh Prasad had passed the order on three petitions seeking a stay. It found that the survey was actually a census, which can only be carried out by the Central government.
“We find that the caste-based survey is a census in the garb of a survey; the power to carry out which is exclusively on the Union Parliament which has also enacted a Census Act, 1948,” the Court had said.
Source: Barandbench
