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PIL against caste column for admissions rejected

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Monday declined to entertain a public interest litigation petition filed by an 81-year-old Gandhian from Tamil Nadu for a direction to the Centre and the States to abolish the practice of disclosure of caste at the time of school admissions.

A Bench consisting of Chief Justice K.G. Balakrishnan and Justices R.V. Raveendran and D.K. Jain, told ‘Salem’ Velu Gandhi alias C. Velu, “Your objective is laudable, but we cannot grant you the relief you had sought as it will pose problems to those SC/ST and other backward classes who may want to claim scholarship, freeship, concessions and other benefits.”

The Bench said, “The school leaving certificate is the basis for higher studies or for jobs. That is why the name of the caste is indicated in the certificate.”

Dismissing the petition at the admission stage, the judges asked how could those who wanted to derive the benefits available to the SC/ST or other backward communities be stopped from doing so.

“But nobody can compel you to disclose the caste or community if you don’t want to disclose [it] or if you don’t want to derive any concession or benefits.”

Speaking in Tamil, Mr. Velu said he was aggrieved at the prevalence of the caste system at all levels and the court should intervene to eradicate this evil from society. A lawyer explained his submissions to the judges.

In his petition, Mr. Velu said that at the time of admission of a student to school, authorities were insisting on filling of a column indicating the student’s caste or community.

As a social worker, he had been working for reformation in society but to no avail. “The caste system prevailing in our country is sign of a feudal system and the schools are watering it from the very beginning,” the petition said.

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