The Supreme Court on Wednesday, October 28, 2026, disposed of a petition by the OBC Federation of India that had sought a pre-loaded drop-down menu of recognised Other Backward Classes (OBC) castes in the digital tools being prepared for Census 2027, holding that the manner of collecting caste information is essentially a policy decision.
Source: Law Trend
A bench of Chief Justice of India Surya Kant and Justices Joymalya Bagchi and V Mohana expressed no opinion on the merits of the demand. Instead, it gave the federation liberty to approach the Registrar General and Census Commissioner of India, and said a copy of the petition could be forwarded to the authorities to be considered as a representation.
Source: Law Chakra
What the federation had asked for
The petition, W.P.(C) No. 1286 of 2026, challenged the format of the population enumeration schedule notified on August 14, 2026. Under that format, Column 10, which concerns caste, records Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes against notified lists, while people from other communities describe their caste in an open text field in their own words.
Source: The Bar Bulletin
The federation argued that the open-text format could produce inconsistencies in caste data and repeat shortcomings associated with the Socio-Economic and Caste Census of 2011. It wanted respondents to be able to select their caste from a regularised list of OBC castes instead of typing it manually.
Why Census 2027 matters
Census 2027 is the first census since 2011 and the first to be conducted digitally, with an option for households to enumerate themselves. The Home Ministry notified 40 questions for the population enumeration phase on August 14, 2026, and caste will be counted across all groups for the first time since 1931. Nationwide enumeration is due in February 2027, with March 1, 2027 as the reference date.
Source: Law Chakra
With the petition disposed of, the drop-down question now rests with the census authorities. The federation can place its proposal before the Registrar General and Census Commissioner, who will decide whether the digital tools change before enumeration begins.