A delegation of leaders belonging to the Bhovi community met retired judge H.N. Nagamohan Das, who is leading the commission on internal reservation for scheduled castes, and urged him to ensure that the Bhovis are considered as a caste instead of a sub-caste during the ongoing survey.

The commission is conducting a survey of all the 101 scheduled castes to apportion reservation in proportion to the population of each caste to ensure internal reservation.

The delegation comprising Sri Immadi Siddarameshwara swami and former chairperson of Bhovi Development Corporation G.V. Seetharamu met Mr. Das in Bengaluru on Tuesday and brought to his notice that the enumerators were categorising Bhovis under a main caste like Adikarnataka before listing them under the sub-caste Bhovis.

Contending that thousands of entries of Bhovis had been made under a sub-caste after listing them under a main caste like Adikarnataka, the delegation members in a representation urged the commission to consider all such entries made in this manner so far as those belonging to Bhovi community.

The representation signed by G.V. Seetharamu, who is also the spokesperson of Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC), has sought a clarification from the commission on the status of Adikarnataka, Adiandhra, and Adidravida castes in view of the conflicting claims over classification. “While some claim that they are not the names of castes historically, others argue that these castes had been listed in the 1950 Presidential order and all subsequent amendments. “Which is correct?”, asked the representation submitted to the commission.

The memorandum also drew the commission’s attention to the fact that the ration cards of some of the members of the Bhovi community were shown as they belonged to Scheduled Tribes (ST). Attributing the lapse to mistakes committed by the officials of Department of Food and Civil Supplies, Mr. Seetharamu urged the commission to ensure that the enumerators considered the Aadhaar, voter ID or caste certificates of the Bhovi community members.