Supreme Court declines plea for OBC caste drop-down menu in Census 2027

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Wednesday declined to entertain a plea seeking a direction to introduce a pre-loaded drop-down menu of Other Backward Classes (OBC) castes in the digital tools for Census 2027, instead of requiring individuals to enter their caste details manually.

A bench comprising Chief Justice of India Surya Kant and Justices Joymalya Bagchi and V. Mohana said the matter concerned a policy decision.

“We dispose of this petition while granting liberty to the petitioner to approach the Registrar General and Census Commissioner, to whom a copy of this petition may be sent as a representation,” the bench said.

Counsel appearing for the petitioner, the OBC Federation of India, submitted that a drop-down menu could be incorporated into the digital census tools.

The Registrar General of India (RGI) has decided to use an open-ended question on caste rather than a pre-loaded drop-down menu for the caste enumeration to be conducted alongside the population enumeration phase of Census 2027.