The Kerala government, on Monday, January 29, contended that there was no wilful non-compliance of judicial orders on its part with regards to conducting a socio-economic study and revise the reservation list for Socially and Educationally Backward Classes (SEBC). The government argued that the caste census data by the Union government in 2011 was “not helpful at all”. The state government filed its counter-affidavit in response to a contempt petition by the Minority Indians Planning and Vigilance Commission Trust, who alleged that the union and state governments failed to follow court orders to revise the backward classes list.

The Kerala government argued that it was not able to conduct its own caste survey because of COVID-19 pandemic and that it sought for a report from the Union government as it had conducted the survey in 2011. The counter-affidavit further stated that it requested the Union government to share Kerala’s socio-economic data, which was shared in May 2023 and alleged that it was unhelpful as it did not contain any socio-economic caste data. The case hearing has been posted to February 6.

The contempt petition was filed with regard to a 2020 Kerala High Court order that asked the Union government to finalise the socio-economic study report and submit it to the State Backward Classes Commission within six months. In 2021, the Supreme Court extended this time by one year. However, there was no further development in this regard.