Why did Karnataka HC permit Congress govt's caste survey despite privacy concerns?

The Karnataka High Court on Thursday refused to stay the ongoing Socio-Economic Survey being carried out by the Karnataka State Backward Classes Commission and directed it to keep data collected during the survey confidential, and to issue a public notice on the voluntary nature of the survey, while posting the next hearing to December.

The divisional bench of Chief Justice Vibhu Bakhru and Justice C.M. Joshi was hearing a batch of petitions challenging the August 13 government order (GO), approving a 15-day socio-economic and educational survey that began on September 22 and is estimated to cost Rs 450 crore.

The bench directed the Commission to issue a public notification clarifying that no one is obliged to share information and that enumerators must inform people at the start of the process. If a citizen declines to participate, enumerators have been told not to cajole or persuade them. The court also ordered the Commission to file an affidavit within one working day spelling out the steps taken to keep data confidential, and said the collected information “shall not be disclosed to any person.” The case will be heard again in the first week of December after respondents file objections.

Over the past three days of hearing, senior advocates for the petitioners — including Prabhuling K. Navadgi, Vivek Subba Reddy and Ashok Haranahalli — argued that the government order and training handbook effectively make Aadhaar mandatory despite claims of optionality, and that the exercise amounts to a “parallel census” without statutory backing. They cited the K.S. Puttaswamy privacy judgment, warning that the survey collects “meta-data”, more intrusive than Aadhaar, without any legislative framework or clear custodian, violating proportionality and data-security norms under the IT Rules.

The State, represented by Advocate General Shashikiran Kumar, countered that the survey is voluntary, Aadhaar is sought only to avoid duplication, and no retrieval of Aadhaar data takes place.

The petitioners allege it’s actually a “caste census”, not just a socio-economic survey and that the state lacks the power to conduct a census, which is the Union government’s domain (Article 342A, 342 & Census Act). They also objected to the caste census handbook making Aadhaar and mobile number compulsory, and stated that even the geotagging and digital linking of households violated the Aadhaar Act. Senior advocates Prabhuling K. Navadgi, Jaykumar Patil, Ashok Haranahalli, Vivek Subba Reddy and Sriranga S, representing the petitioners, also raised concerns over privacy and data security, stating there was risk of leaks and the questionnaire with 60 queries amounted to profiling.

The petition also alleged that the survey was being carried out with a political motive - to know caste numbers before elections, and claimed it was arbitrary as there was no study or methodology but unscientific grouping of castes. It also posed the risk of duplication.

Citing Doctrine of Proportionality test, senior advocate Vivek Subba Reddy said Aadhar was protected by an Act, but no such mechanism was in place for the survey.

State’s defence counsel Abhishek Manu Singhvi argued it was a “voluntary” survey, unlike census, and people could refuse to answer. “It is not a census but a data collection exercise needed for welfare policy and the Supreme Court recognises states’ power to collect such data,” said Singhvi, adding that the interim orders in such surveys were rare and petitioners had come in the last minute after thousands of staff and funds were mobilised.

Simultaneously, the state cabinet gave its nod, bestowing the Greater Bengaluru Authority with powers to take disciplinary action against government employees skipping the caste survey across the five corporations. Incidentally, the survey is yet to take off in the GBA limits.

The cabinet decision came amid protests by teachers and staff deployed for the survey work. The protestors urged the government to postpone the survey till the technical snag faced by the surveyors is addressed. They alleged that uploading data on the app for 60 questions was taking hours and the submissions showed error, rendering their efforts futile. 

They accused the government of launching the survey without any preparation. Many teachers were not proficient in handling smartphones, while the app was showing wrong addresses of geotagged households. Persistent glitch in the system had slowed down the work, making it impossible for the surveyors to reach their daily target of 120-150 households.

Law and Parliamentary Affairs Minister H.K. Patil, who briefed the reporters after the cabinet meeting, said that Chief Minister Siddaramaiah would hold a videoconference with the deputy commissioners and zilla panchayat CEOs on September 27, at 11.30 am, to give directions and resolve the issues.

“The chief commissioner of the Greater Bangalore Authority in Bengaluru has been empowered to take disciplinary action against those employees who skip the survey work,” said Patil, adding the chief commissioner would be empowered to impose disciplinary action and penalties under the Karnataka Civil Services (Conduct) Rules, 2021 and the Karnataka Civil Services (Classification, Control and Appeal) Rules, 1957 against the absentees deputed as enumerators within the five municipal corporations of Greater Bangalore Authority.