Supreme Court dismissed a Maharashtra government plea on OBC quota data.
The Supreme Court Wednesday dismissed a Maharashtra government plea seeking a direction to the Centre to disclose to the state the Socio-Economic and Caste Census (SECC) 2011 raw caste data on Other Backward Classes (OBCs).
A bench of Justices A M Khanwilkar and C T Ravikumar noted that the affidavit filed by the Centre before it emphatically stated that the data of SECC 2011 is "not accurate" and "fraught with mistakes", and unusable for any purpose whatsoever.
"If that is the stand taken by the respondents (Centre and others), we fail to understand as to how a mandamus can be issued to the respondents to permit the state of Maharashtra, petitioner before this court, to use that data for any purpose whatsoever,” the bench said.
"Such direction, if issued, would lead to more confusion and uncertainty, which cannot be countenanced," it said.
The bench dismissed the plea with a liberty to Maharashtra to pursue such other remedies as may be permissible in law.
It noted the state is obliged to comply with the triple test requirement, as directed by a constitution bench of the top court in its verdict delivered earlier, which was reiterated by a three-judge bench, before enforcing the reservation for the OBC in the local governance.
The bench observed this does not mean that the Centre and other respondents can be directed to share the information, which they themselves have classified as “unusable”, and allow the state to use it for the purpose of future election.
It noted that the Centre, in its affidavit filed in the matter, has stated emphatically that the information which was collated was specific to the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribes category only.
The top court noted as per the affidavit, the SECC 2011 was resorted to by way of a separate decision taken by the Cabinet and it was not an OBC survey but a comprehensive exercise to enumerate caste status of all the households in the country.
“According to the affidavit filed in response to the petition, the information collated in that exercise is unusable as it is not accurate and fraught with mistakes….,” it said.
The bench noted that the counsel appearing for the state has invited its attention to a reply given by the ministry before the parliamentary committee in which it was said that 98.87 per cent data is error free.
It said a further affidavit has been filed before it by the secretary of the ministry of social justice and empowerment, explaining this position.
The top court noted it has been stated that reference to 98.87 per cent accuracy was either an error or in reference to some other detail.
During the hearing, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the Centre, told the bench that the SECC 2011 data is “absolutely unreliable” as several infirmities were found in it.
Senior advocate Shekhar Naphade, appearing for Maharashtra, told the bench that the Centre cannot claim before the top court that the data is full of errors as the government had told a Parliamentary committee that the data was 98.87 per cent error free.
The Centre had on Tuesday told the top court that the SECC 2011 is "not" an OBC data and it was not made public as it was found to be “flawed”, and “bound to mislead”.
The government had said that it “fully supports” reservation for OBC but the exercise will have to be in line with the verdict of the Constitution bench which had mentioned triple conditions, including setting up a dedicated commission to conduct a contemporaneous rigorous empirical inquiry into the nature and implications of the backwardness qua local bodies within the state.
Mr Mehta had argued that no reliance can be placed on the SECC 2011, not only for reservation but also for employment, education and others.
The Centre had in September this year filed an affidavit in the Supreme court saying caste Census of Backward Classes is “administratively difficult and cumbersome" and excluding such information from the purview of Census is a "conscious policy decision".
The government had said in its affidavit, filed by the secretary of the ministry of social justice and empowerment, that caste enumeration in the SECC 2011 was “fraught” with mistakes and inaccuracies.
It had said the Centre has already issued a notification in January last year prescribing the series of information to be collected during Census 2021 and it covers many areas including the information relating to Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes but does not refer to any other category of caste.
The Centre had also said that SECC 2011 survey was not on the ‘OBC survey' as alleged, but a comprehensive exercise to enumerate the caste status of all households in the country, as per their statement.
In March this year, a three-judge bench of the top court had said that reservation in favour of OBCs in concerned local bodies in Maharashtra cannot exceed aggregate 50 percent of the total seats reserved for Scheduled Castes, the Scheduled Tribes and OBCs taken together.
The top court had referred to the triple condition noted in the Constitution bench verdict of 2010.
The conditions included -- to specify the proportion of reservation required to be provisioned local body-wise in light of recommendations of the commission so as not to fall foul of overbreadth and in any case such reservation shall not exceed an aggregate of 50 percent of the total seats reserved in favour of SCs/STs/OBCs taken together.