Supreme Court Declines to Entertain PIL on Caste Enumeration Procedure in 2027 Census

PTI, NEW DELHI, FEB 2, 2026: The Supreme Court on Monday refused to entertain a PIL questioning the procedure to be adopted to record, classify and verify the caste data of citizens in the 2027 general census.

The apex court, however, asked the Centre and the office of the Registrar General and Census Commissioner, India, to consider the suggestions made by PIL petitioner Aakash Goel, an academician, on the issue.

Goel, represented by senior advocate Mukta Gupta, said a transparent questionnaire, to be used for recording, classifying and verifying the caste details of the citizens, has to be placed in the public domain.

The senior advocate alleged that the Directorate of Census Operations has 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 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 empowers 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 in order to rule out any mistake 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,” the CJI said.