Move census from Union to Concurrent list, provide reservation to OBCs in local bodies: DMK MP Wilson to PM Modi

Member of Parliament (MP) from Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) party, Senior Advocate P Wilson has addressed a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi (PM) urging that the subject 'census' falling in the Union list of the Constitution be moved to concurrent list so that the Central and States governments have concurrent powers to conduct census. .The same would aid States in maintaining an accurate list of Other Backward Classes (OBC) local body wise, Wilson stated in his letter.The Senior Counsel also appealed to the PM to look into the long standing demand for due representation of OBCs in local bodies..The letter was in continuation of the MP's speech on the floor of the Rajya Sabha on March 29, 2022.It highlighted the legal obstacle to States in granting OBC reservations in local body elections, due to want of 'empirical data', which is a prerequisite laid down by the Supreme Court.The letter said that as per judicial pronouncements, the State has to appoint a dedicated commission to gather information for ascertaining political backwardness of the backward classes to specify the proportion of the reservation required local body-wise. For this exercise, it is vital to have access to the caste census data relating to OBCs, it was pointed out..The letter highlighted that in March 2011, pursuant to the 15th Lok Sabha passing a resolution to undertake Socio Economic Caste Census (SECC) which included census of all castes other than Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, the Union Cabinet spent a sum of ₹4893.60 crores to conduct a caste census with the assistance of the States and Union Territories. .A committee was formed for this. However, the committee has not functioned and the caste census data has not been released till date.Wilson said this suggested that even though a caste census was taken in SECC by the Union, the same has not been published yet for unknown reasons. The Union is also refusing to undertake fresh caste census, he said..Further, he stated that the States were powerless in conducting their own census to ascertain the population of backward classes within their States since census was a Union subject. .To overcome this problem, he suggested that if census is moved to the concurrent list, it would enable States to conduct their own census which would aid them to maintain an accurate list of backward classes contemplated under Article 342- A(3) and have empirical data of OBC communities local body wise."The States can then grant reservations in accordance with this data and there can be no challenge before Constitutional Courts and shadow fighting in the legal arena can be avoided. This would be a win-win situation for both the Union and the States," stated the letter..Wilson, therefore, suggested a three-pronged approach to remedy the problem and set right the injustice meted out to OBCs: to move the entry census to the concurrent list giving both the union and the state concurrent power to conduct census; simultaneously bring necessary constitutional amendments to Articles 243(D)(6) and 243(T)(6) to compulsorily grant OBC reservations in local body elections on the basis of empirical data; and Until it is done, release the caste census data collected by the Union..[Read Letter]

Move census from Union to Concurrent list, provide reservation to OBCs in local bodies: DMK MP Wilson to PM Modi

Ratna Singh

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