Patna: Patna High Court on Thursday ordered an interim stay against the caste census underway across Bihar. The orders were issued by a Division Bench comprising Chief Justice KV Chandran and granted an interim stay which would be in vogue until July 3. The Bench completed the hearing and reserved its judgement on a petition challenging and seeking an interim stay on the enumeration of castes and economic survey in Bihar.
According to the petitioner, the caste-based census started by the Nitish Kumar led Bihar government does not come under the purview of the state government. The petitioner's advocate Dinu Kumar informed the court that the caste census was being conducted by the government when the subject falls outside the jurisdiction of the state government.
The petitioner submitted that only the Central Government can conduct such a survey as per law. He further said the state government is spending Rs 500 crore on the caste-based survey in Bihar.
Advocate general PK Shahi appearing for the state government said the survey was necessary for framing of welfare schemes for the people in need and to improve their economic condition. He also informed the court that the caste-based survey was voluntary, and not compulsory like the census, while responding to the petittioner's contention on carrying out a census.
The petitioner insisted that the 17 socioeconomic indicators and the caste status sought from nearly as part of the caste-based survey, was as good as the census, which was the sole prerogative of the Centre. Dinu Kumar and Ritu Raj, on behalf of the petitioners and Abhinav Srivastava and Shahi, on behalf of the state government, presented their respective sides before the court.
The caste-based survery was undertaken by the Bihar government on Jan. 7 this year to compile data from 127 million respondents in 29 million households of Bihar, both physically as well as digitally through a mobile application.
