Madras High Court today issued a fresh direction to the Centre to conduct caste-wise census in the country. Allowing a PIL by lawyer R Krishnamoorthy, a Division Bench on Wednesday directed the Census Commissioner to take all steps to hold caste-wise enumeration. <br/><br/>The bench comprising Acting Chief Justice Elipe Dharma Rao and Justice T S Sivagnanam said the relief sought by the petitioner had already been answered in the affirmative by the court in an earlier verdict on a writ petition. <br/><br/>In its October 2009 judgement, the court had noted that after 1931 there had never been any caste-wise enumeration or tabulation.<br/><br/>Earlier last week the Prime Minister assured the Parliament that the government will soon take an appropriate decision on caste-based census in the country. <br/><br/>Dr Manmohan Singh said this in a brief statement during a debate on the issue in Lok Sabha. The assurance came in the wake of demand by several parties for conducting census based on caste. <br/><br/>The members felt that such an exercise, particularly on other backward classes (OBCs), will help in planning welfare measures.