Bengaluru: A day after the State Cabinet saw divisions over the Social, Economic and Educational survey, popularly known as caste census, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Friday ruled out any postponement and said that the exercise would start as scheduled from Sept. 22 and held till Oct. 7.
Speaking to presspersons here yesterday, Siddaramaiah asserted that the Government will not entertain any demands for postponement. We are not going to delay the caste census for any reason, he added.
Defending his refusal to intervene, the CM said “The permanent Backward Classes Commission, which is conducting the survey, is a Constitutional and independent body and cannot be told to do anything by the State Government. It is the Commission’s independent decision which we cannot interfere”.
Siddaramaiah’s assertion came a day after reports that Deputy Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar, Forest Minister Eshwar Khandre and Horticulture Minister S.S. Mallikarjun had at Thursday’s Cabinet meeting urged for a postponement, citing various reasons.
However, Siddaramaiah downplayed the differences, saying that, in fact, he had asked his Cabinet colleagues to counter the BJP and other opponents of the survey who are trying to discredit the entire exercise. Some Cabinet Ministers had expressed their own opinions at the Cabinet meeting and that’s all, he added.
Meanwhile, the Karnataka High Court on Friday ordered issuance of notice to the State Government on a batch of PILs filed challenging the Social and Educational Survey by the State Government, commencing on Sept. 22.
The Petitioners contended that the survey amounted to a caste census which falls exclusively within the domain of the Union Government under Entry 69, List-1 of the Seventh Schedule of the Constitution.
A Division Bench of Justices Anu Sivaraman and K. Rajesh Rai directed the matter to be listed on Monday. It also ordered issuance of notices to Karnataka State Backward classes Commission and the Registrar General and Census Commissioner of India.
