'It's morally, legally binding on Karnataka govt to accept caste survey report'

Karnataka's socioeconomic-educational (SEE) survey, commonly referred to as 'caste census', had been commissioned by Siddaramaiah during his previous tenure as Chief Minister. It has now turned into a political hot potato in the southern state.

With the report expected to be tabled later this month, opposition to it is growing by the day. While the two dominant communities in Karnataka — the Lingayats and the Vokkaligas — have both opposed the survey, the Dalits and Other Backward Classes (OBCs) are pressuring the government to reveal its contents.

One of the arguments made against the survey is that it was conducted a few years ago, and hence its report will be outdated now. So, should the Siddaramaiah government present a modified version of the report?

H Kantharaj, former chairman of the Karnataka State Commission for Backward Classes, which conducted the survey in 2015, argued in an exclusive interview to The Federal that “there is no provision in the law to revise any report”. Excerpts from the interview:

Some communities are openly opposing the government’s plan to accept the caste census report. Present chairman of the Backward Classes Commission, Jayaprakash Hegde, has suggested that a revised report may be tabled based on the data collected by your team. Is there a provision in the law to revise such a report?

Everyone has the right to oppose something in a democratic society. Some prominent communities fear that the publication of the report will be detrimental to their existence. Their opinion will change once the report is made public. Even the Supreme Court has endorsed the urgent need to conduct surveys of this kind to understand the socioeconomic and educational status of every community in the country.

I am not aware of Jayaprakash Hegde saying that our report will be revised. All he said is that the commission headed by him will submit a socioeconomic-educational survey report. But I want to make it clear that there is no provision in the law to revise the report of any commission constituted under law.

The Vokkaligas and Lingayats have opposed your report. What’s your reaction?

I am really pained by a section of society opposing the commission’s report without understanding the enormity of the 40-day exercise that was conducted by spending Rs 170 crore and employing about 1.60 lakh personnel. How can anybody conclude that the survey was “unscientific” and a “table story”? Had they reacted after going through the report, I would have responded to them within a constitutional and legal framework. This kind of survey is needed under the provisions of the Constitution to achieve equality and achieve social justice. What Karnataka conducted is nothing short of a social revolution.

The commission was constituted to conduct the survey in 2014. The survey was conducted in 2015. Your term was extended to facilitate the submission of the report. What hindered you from submitting your report in 2019, when your term ended?

The Backward Classes Commission compiled the report in 2019. At that time, the BJP government headed by BS Yediyurappa was in power. The Commission, before relinquishing office, sought permission from the government to submit the report. But, for reasons best known to them, the government did not respond.

Meanwhile, the Commission got a message from the government that its term had expired. We handed over the report to the Member Secretary, the official representative of the government, after passing a resolution that all members unanimously accepted. The Member Secretary also consented to it and we knew that he signed the resolution.

However, when the report was about to be submitted, it was learnt that the Member Secretary had not signed it. This is being cited as a “technical error”. Had the Member Secretary found any inaccuracies, he could have registered his dissent, isn’t it? There was no reason for him not to sign the report. Nevertheless, as per the law, our Commission officially submitted the report in 2019.

There is a demand for conducting another round of the survey in Bengaluru, as it is being claimed that 2.37 lakh families in the city were not covered by the earlier census. Your comments?

For the sake of argument, I admit that the survey in Bengaluru city was incomplete. The percentage of coverage was lower in Bengaluru compared to the rural parts of Karnataka. But, why is a similar question not raised when voting percentage also dips in Bengaluru city compared to that in rural areas?

Bengaluru’s character is different from rural areas. That is because of the nature of the floating population. Many don’t have a voter’s card or even a proper address to prove their identity. In fact, most residential apartments would not even allow us to enter and conduct the survey. We were allowed in only after we warned them that we would disconnect their civic amenities.

You can ask TM Vijayabhaskar (former Karnataka Chief Secretary) about the Commission’s efforts to conduct the survey in Bengaluru. We did our best with the resources at our disposal. We have records of those who refused to respond to the survey officials.

Is it morally and legally binding on a government to accept a commission’s report once it is constituted?

Yes. It is morally and legally binding on the government to accept the report of a commission constituted under the Karnataka State Backward Classes Commissions Act. Chief Minister Siddaramaiah has already clarified that he will accept the report. I don’t have any apprehension about it. According to the Act, it is binding on the government to accept a report in “normal situations”. To reject a report, there needs to be “exceptional circumstances”. The government can refuse to accept a report citing concrete reasons. That is what the law says.

It is rumoured that the original report is missing. What is your reaction?

That is utter nonsense. How could the report of a commission, which is in possession of the commission, go missing? It is completely baseless.