SC Refuses to Entertain PIL Questioning Procedures to Record Caste of Citizens in 2027 Census

PTI, NEW DELHI, FEB 3, 2026: The Supreme Court on Monday refused to entertain a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) questioning the procedures to be adopted for recording, classifying, and verifying the caste data of citizens in the 2027 general census. However, the top court asked the Centre and the office of the Registrar General and Census Commissioner, India, to consider the suggestions made by the PIL petitioner Aakash Goel, an academician, on the issue.

Goel, represented by senior advocate Mukta Gupta, argued that a transparent questionnaire, to be used for recording, classifying, and verifying the caste details of citizens, must be placed in the public domain. The senior advocate also alleged that the Directorate of Census Operations had not disclosed the criteria for recording the caste identity of citizens, "notwithstanding the acknowledgement that caste enumeration has extended beyond the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes this time."

The bench told the PIL petitioner that there is "no pre-determined data" to identify the caste data. "The census exercise is regulated under the Census Act, 1958 and the 1990 Rules framed thereunder, which empower the respondent authorities to determine the particulars and manners of census operations," the bench noted.

"We have no reason to doubt that the respondent authority, with the aid and assistance of domain experts, must have evolved a robust mechanism to rule out any mistakes as apprehended by the petitioner and several like-minded persons. We find the petitioner has raised some relevant issues through representation to the Registrar General of Census Operations as well," said the Chief Justice of India (CJI).

The bench further added that the authorities may consider the suggestions raised in the legal notice and the petition and disposed of the PIL. The 2027 Census, officially the 16th national census, will be the first to include comprehensive caste enumeration since 1931, and it will also be the country’s first fully digital census.