HC seeks govt reply on deletion of caste in school records
Telangana High Court.
Hyderabad: The Telangana High Court on Tuesday issued notices to the state government, seeking its contentions in a PIL challenging the need for caste to be mentioned in school students’ records.
The litigation, brought about by BHEL retired manager Sri Narayana Sambarapu, sought that the court declares the mention of caste in school records and important papers, like transfer certificates, illegal and arbitrary.
In a letter, Sambarapu brought to the court’s notice that students were asked to mention their caste during admissions and the same, subsequently, figures on their records, “branding them with the caste permanently, whether they like it or not”.
He submitted that disclosing one’s caste sometimes leads to “utter disadvantage”, besides constituting a privacy breach.
“Demanding caste certificate or no-caste certificate for the purpose of the school records is causing more inconvenience and making parents run to government authorities to issue caste certificates,” the letter mentioned.
The court, treating the letter as a PIL, issued notices to the Chief Secretary and the secretary of school education, seeking their responses by July 31.
