The Kerala government may have to conduct a socio-economic caste census (SECC) to decide on the inclusion of Nair, Brahmin, Kshatriya, and Ambalavasi castes on the Other Backward Classes (OBC) list in the State.
The inclusion on the OBC list would entitle the community members to reservation in employment and admissions to educational institutions. However, revision of the SECC would be a cumbersome and socially volatile exercise. Currently, there are 84 castes in Other Backward Classes in the State including Ezhava, Dheevara, Viswakarma, Latin Catholic, and Muslim.
Manavaikyavedi, an organisation, had moved the High Court in 2017 to include Nair, Brahmin, Kshatriya, and Ambalavasi castes on the OBC list. The organisation argued that the communities had been getting the benefit of reservation from 1934, but it was taken away in 1957. It also argued that there were sufficient reasons for giving reservation to those castes. At the same time, the Minority Indians Planning and Vigilance Commission Trust moved the court for updating the OBC list.
HC judgment
In a common judgment, the High Court had asked the Centre and the State governments to decide on the finalisation of socio-economic study for the identification of socially and educationally backward classes in Kerala and submit a report to the Kerala State Commission for Backward Classes.
The commission can decide on the backwardness of the four castes based only on an SECC. The commission is awaiting the government’s decision on holding the SECC to decide its future course of action, said commission chairman G. Sasidharan.
Centre refuses to share
The State will have to go in for a separate SECC, with the Centre declining to share the caste data of the nationwide census held in 2011. The Centre decided not to release the data of the SECC 2011, as it was “fraught with mistakes and inaccuracies.” It was also found that the “record of the census pertaining to castes is not relevant for the purpose of reservation in admission, employment or elections to the local authorities.”
The Centre also informed the KSCBC that the State governments were at a liberty to maintain their separate State list of Socially and Educationally Backward Classes and to conduct SECC as per their requirements. Moreover, the Supreme Court had also asked the Centre not to release the raw caste data to any agency, it informed the commission.
