Karnataka High Court refuses to stay caste survey but says it must be voluntary, confidential

The Karnataka High Court on Thursday refused to stay the State's move to conduct a socio-economic and educational survey, popularly referred to as a caste survey, but ordered that the exercise must be voluntary and that any data collected must be kept confidential [Rajya Vokkaliga Sangha v. Karnataka State Backward Classes Commission and ors, and connected matters]..A Bench of Chief Justice Vibhu Bakhru and Justice CM Joshi passed the interim order on a batch of petitions against conducting such a survey.The Court observed that the State had already spent significant resources to conduct the ongoing survey, with ₹20 crores already spent and a sum of ₹350 crores earmarked for conducting it further. About 1.75 lakh enumerators were also mobilised to conduct the survey on ground. "At this stage, it is not apposite to stop the exercise which is underway. However, certain protective directions are necessary," the Court, therefore, held. It proceeded to issue the various conditions for the continuance of the survey, including that no person can be pressurised to participate in the survey. The Court further directed that a public notice must be issued to clarify that participation in this survey is voluntary and no person is obligated to disclose any information. The participation in the survey and disclosure of any information is purely voluntary, the Court said. "The above information would necessarily have to be communicated to all participants at the outset by the enumerators before calling upon them to answer any queries or to participate in the impugned survey. If the participant declines to participate in the survey or answer any query, the enumerators would take no further steps to pressurize the participants, in any manner, to divulge any information or his identity," the Court added. It also issued directions to ensure that the data collected during the survey is kept confidential. "The data collected during the survey shall not be disclosed to any person, including the Government. The (State Backward Classes) Commission shall ensure that the data is fully protected and is kept confidential ... The Commission shall file an affidavit within a period of one working day, clearly disclosing the steps taken for ensuring that the data collected will be kept confidential and it will not be accessible to any person other than the Commission," the Court ordered. .The Court's decision not to stay the survey was also based on a prima facie view that the Karnataka State Commission for Backward Classes Act, 1995 appears to empower the State to conduct the survey."Prima facie, the 1995 Act – which is undisputedly a law in force – empowers the State to maintain a list of backward classes and revise the same periodically ... Prima facie, the State is empowered to prepare and maintain the list of socially and educationally backward classes. It follows that it would be necessary that the same be based on empirical data and material to avoid any arbitrariness," it said. It also expressed a prima facie view that the survey does not appear to be a census in disguise. "Prima facie, merely because the impugned survey extends to the entire population of the State of Karnataka would not render the survey a census as they are qualitatively different," the Court said. .The petitioners before the Court challenged the survey on the ground that it is a census in disguise, which also involves unnecessary intrusion into people's private lives. The State, represented by Advocate General Shashi Kiran Shetty, today assured that there are sufficient safeguards in place to ensure that private data collected during the survey is protected. He added that he can also file an affidavit on the same by tomorrow. Senior Advocate AM Singhvi also appeared for the State while Senior Advocate Dr. Ravi Varma Kumar appeared for the State's Backward Classes Commission. Having refused to stay the exercise, the Court today allowed all parties to file further written submissions in the matter in the coming weeks.The petitioners before the Court include the Rajya Vokkaliga Sangha, individuals from the Vokkaliga community including former Advocate Association of Bengaluru (AAB) President KN Subba Reddy, individuals from the Lingayat community, and the Akhila Karnataka Brahmana Maha Sabha..The counsel who appeared for the petitioners included Senior Advocates Prabhuling Navadgi, Vivek Subba Reddy, Jayakumar Patil and Ashok Haranahalli.Senior Advocate KN Phanindra appeared for the Karnataka State Backward Castes Federation.Additional Solicitor General of India Aravind Kamath appeared for the Central government and supported the petitioners' argument that the State is not empowered to conduct the survey. .[Read Order].[Live Coverage]