Patna: The Patna High Court will pronounce the verdict on Thursday on a plea seeking a stay on the caste-based census in Bihar. The High Court had completed the proceedings in the case on Wednesday and reserved the judgment for today. The court has said it will provide interim relief to to the petitioner if it finds merit in the petition.
The petitioner has challenged the caste-based census started by the Nitish Kumar led Bihar government saying that the task does not come under the jurisdiction of the state government. During the hearing in the matter, the petitioner's advocate Dinu Kumar told the court that the caste census being conducted by the government is outside the jurisdiction of the state government.
Also read: Bihar caste census: Supreme Court to hear plea today
Kumar said that only the Central Government can conduct such a survey under the rules. Kumar further told the court that the state government is spending Rs 500 crore on the caste-based survey in Bihar. On the other hand, advocate general PK Shahi appearing for the state government told the court on Wednesday that the survey was necessary for framing welfare schemes for the people and to improve their economic condition.
Shahi said the caste-based survey was voluntary, and not compulsory like the census. Shahi was responding to the petittioner's contention 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 Advocate General PK Shahi, on behalf of the state government, presented their respective sides before the court, which completed the hearing in the case on Wednesday. All eyes are now on the verdict of the Patna High Court to be announced today.
Pertinently, 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.
