Karnataka chief minister Siddaramaiah on Saturday said a decision on making public the state’s caste census will be taken once he receives the report next month.

Earlier this week, chairperson of the Karnataka State Commission for Backward Classes K, Jayaprakash had said he would submit the caste census report to the state government in November.

“When the Kantharaj headed commission gave the report, the then chief minister H.D. Kumaraswamy did not take it, now there is a different chairman for the commission. I have asked him to submit the report filed by Kantharaj as it is. He has said that the report will be given in November, let’s see,” Siddaramaiah told reporters here.

Asked about the demand for separate categorisation of the most backward classes, as it is done in other states, the chief minister said. “The government cannot do it on
its own, a report should be there for it... Once the backward classes commission report comes, we will think over it.”

The then Siddaramaiah-led Congress government in 2015 had commissioned the social-economic and educational survey at an estimated cost of Rs 170 crore in the state the findings of which have not been made public yet.