Tamil Nadu Cabinet clears statewide caste survey after four decades

CHENNAI: The Tamil Nadu Cabinet on Thursday approved the constitution of a multi-member commission headed by a retired High Court judge to conduct a statewide Social Justice Survey, including a caste-wise enumeration. The decision clears the way for the state's first full caste count in more than four decades.

The decision was taken at the third Cabinet meeting chaired by Chief Minister C. Joseph Vijay at the Secretariat in Chennai. Energy Resources and Law Minister C.T.R. Nirmal Kumar told reporters that the commission, which will include IAS officers, is expected to be constituted in February or March 2027, after the Union government completes the caste enumeration being carried out alongside the ongoing population census. Its structure, the economic criteria and the survey rules will be framed once it is in place, he said.

The survey will be distinct from the Centre's caste enumeration. It will assess family income, occupation, land ownership, educational status, school and college enrolment, dropout rates and access to welfare schemes for each community. Social Justice Minister Vanni Arasu had earlier said there was an immediate need for focused socio-economic data on the Adi Dravidar population.

The exercise was a key poll promise of the Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam. Governor R.V. Arlekar announced it in his address to the first session of the 17th Assembly in June, saying true social justice required due representation for every community.

Parties had pressed for the survey. A meeting of TVK, AIADMK, BJP, Congress, DMDK, NTK and other outfits in Chennai on June 5 adopted a resolution seeking a caste survey under the Collection of Statistics Act, 2008, to strengthen the legal basis of the state's 69 per cent reservation, which rests largely on 1931 data.

Tamil Nadu's last door-to-door caste enumeration was carried out in 1983-84 by the Second Backward Classes Commission under J.A. Ambasankar, following a Supreme Court direction. Its findings still underpin the quota. The 69 per cent reservation is protected by a 1993 state law placed in the Ninth Schedule.

PMK president Anbumani Ramadoss welcomed the decision, calling the survey a 47-year demand of his party and necessary to safeguard the 69 per cent quota. He urged the government to appoint a retired High Court judge committed to social justice and to begin the exercise without delay. The previous DMK government had declined to commission such a survey, arguing that the state had no authority to do so.

The Cabinet also decided to file a review petition in the Supreme Court against its recent ruling that a Hindu from a Backward Class cannot claim the same reservation benefits after converting to Islam. It cleared eight industrial proposals and discussed relief for about 3,000 people and 15 educational institutions affected by the alleged illegal grant of pattas on 600 acres of poramboke land in Thalambur village near Chennai.

(With inputs from media reports)