Benglauru: The High Court of Karnataka on Friday did not stay the process and adjourned till July the hearing on a public interest litigation (PIL) petition, which questioned the legality of holding such a census by spending over Rs. 100 crore. Consequently the caste survey will go ahead from Saturday.

A Division Bench comprising Chief Justice D.H. Waghela and Justice Ram Mohan Reddy declined to interfere with the process at present while pointing out that what has been embarked upon by the Karnataka State Commission for Backward Classes was not a census but a survey to collect certain data for better planning.

Advocate-General Ravivarma Kumar claimed that it was the ninth such survey since 1960s and this exercise was not a census.

Petitioners, Shivaraj Kanshetty and three others, had contended that the ‘caste census’ was violative of the constitutional provision as it was only the Centre that had the powers to conduct census and not the State.

BJP says, postpone the survey

The Bharatiya Janata Party on Friday demanded that the caste census, which is set to begin from Saturday in the State, should be put off by 15 to 30 days till the “confusion over contentious issues” is resolved. Speaking to reporters at the sidelines of a meeting to review the party’s ongoing membership drive, BJP leader K.S. Eshwarappa alleged that the government was trying to divide people on the lines of caste and sub-caste through the census.

He said there was confusion on the proposed census as the government notification had listed nearly 1,500 castes, though the State has only around 900 castes.

He demanded that a meeting of political leaders, community leaders and religious leaders should be convened by the government immediately to remove the confusion and build a consensus. Till then, the census should be put off, he said.