The Supreme Court Monday adjourned by four weeks the hearing on a plea seeking directions for a caste-based census for the Other Backward Classes (OBCs) in the upcoming Census. A bench of Justices L Nageswara Rao and B R Gavai deferred the hearing after senior advocate Gopal Shankarnarayanan informed it that a similar petition is pending before another bench as well. "List after four weeks along with Writ Petition," the bench said.
The top court was hearing a plea filed by advocate Krishan Kanhaya Pal who said that the governments are unable to share the benefits of the welfare schemes with all sections among backward classes due to a lack of caste-based survey and a caste-based census of the OBCs is of 'vital necessity'. The petition contended that concrete policies cannot be formulated in the absence of concrete data. Pal stated that despite the announcement made by the then Union Home Minister, Rajnath Singh in 2018, there would be a census of the OBC population during the 2021 Census, however, the government refrained from tabling the report of the Rohini Commission that was established in 2017.
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