The State government on Wednesday extended the tenure of chairman of Karnataka State Permanent Commission for Backward Classes K. Jayaprakash Hegde till February 29 to enable him to submit the socio economic survey or caste census report.
This is the second extension to Mr. Hegde by the State government. While his first term ended on November 26, 2023, he had been given extension till January 31, 2024. Mr. Hegde and the commission members, who have been analysing data collected as part of the census exercise, had sought additional one month time to complete the report. “The report is almost ready. The commission wanted some more time. The chairman had formally written to the government seeking extension by one month,” commission sources said.
The caste census has become controversial as the dominant land owning Vokkaliga and Lingayat communities have opposed the 2015 caste census exercise as unscientific.
The Jayapraksh Hegde Commission will be submitting its report based on the data collected in 2015 as part of the survey conducted by the previous H. Kantharaj Commission. While mystery shrouds the Kantharaj Commission survey report as the then member secretary had not signed it, subsequent governments had also not accepted the report.
