Karnataka CM Siddaramaiah extends time for Hegde panel to submit caste survey report
The chief minister, however, maintains that the Congress government will accept the report.
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Karnataka CM Siddaramaiah. (File) Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah said Wednesday that the government would accept the report of the socio-economic and educational survey, popularly referred to as the caste census, by “December or January”.
In October he said the report would be submitted in “November or December”. There is, however, resistance from dominant caste groups to the survey conducted by the Karnataka State Commission for Backward Classes, which they have criticised as being “unscientific”.
Speaking to reporters, Siddaramaiah said that Jayaprakash Hegde, chairman of the commission, had met him recently. “He said he would give it by the end of his term. And in case of a delay of one or two months (to submit the report), he requested the government to let him continue in the post until the report is submitted,” the chief minister said.
According to Hegde, the extra time given is for rechecking the findings before submitting them to the government. “The report is in its final stages,” he said, adding that he had sought an extension during his meeting with the chief minister.
Though the survey was ordered in 2014 and completed in 2016, it has not yet been submitted to the government. The delay in accepting the findings of the survey is attributed to opposition mainly from dominant communities such as Lingayats and Vokkaligas.
Siddaramaiah, however, maintained that the report would be accepted. “Until we see the findings of the report, we cannot say whether the concerns raised by them (Lingayats and Vokkaligas) are justified,” he said.
Earlier in the day, Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar said that though he was in favour of a caste census, “certain communities have said that they have not been contacted before the census and are hence demanding a scientific caste census”.
The government also came under attack from the BJP over a letter written by Hegde to the government in 2021, where he raised concerns that the main copy of the report did not have the signature of the member secretary.
Posting online a copy of the letter, BJP MLA Basanagouda Patil Yatnal wrote on X, formerly Twitter, that the “validity of this document which does not have the signature of Member Secretary is questionable”. “Despite being privy of such developments, the Government has not taken action against errant officials,” he added.
Another BJP MLA, V Sunil Kumar, said the Congress government was cheating Other Backward Classes in the state. “The opposition by Congress MLAs themselves to the caste census report has raised questions among the general public,” he said.
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