SC Agrees To Examine Plea Challenging Caste Census By Bihar Govt On Friday

The petition has been filed by one Akhilesh Kumar, a social worker from Nalanda, contending that this decision fell under the domain of the Union government.

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New Delhi, Jan 11 (IANS) The Supreme Court on Wednesday agreed to examine a plea seeking quashing the Bihar government's decision to conduct a caste survey in the state, on Friday.

A counsel mentioned the plea for hearing before a bench headed by Chief Justice D.Y. Chandrachud.

The petition has been filed by one Akhilesh Kumar, a social worker from Nalanda, contending that this decision fell under the domain of the Union government.

The bench, also comprising Justice P.S. Narasimha, allowed a plea for listing of the matter on Friday.

The plea sought quashing of the notification issued by deputy secretary, government of Bihar, in connection with the caste survey and to refrain the authorities concerned from conducting the exercise.

It added that there is no provision in the Constitution regarding caste configuration.

The plea, which has been drawn by advocate Barun Kumar Sinha, argued that move was also against the basic structure of the Constitution, besides being "illegal, arbitrary, irrational, discriminatory and unconstitutional".

It further contended that according to Section-3 of the Census Act, 1948, the Centre is empowered to take census in the whole or any part of the territory of India.

The plea added that the scheme of Census Act, 1948, establishes that caste census is not contemplated in the law and the state government has no authority in law to conduct caste census.

It claimed that the notification dated June 6, 2022, violated Article 14 of the Constitution, which provides for equality before law and equal protection of the law.

"The state government by executive orders cannot conduct caste census in the absence of legislation on the subject.The impugned notification for caste census in the State of Bihar lacks statutory flavour and constitutional sanction," it said.

The seven-party government in Bihar claims that the caste-based census will help to improve lives of people in the state, Reshma Prasad, the transgender leader of the state has, however, claimed that questioning the caste of a person is a crime.

"Whenever caste becomes a talking point in society, they cannot discuss equality. As a result, inequality spreads in society. I firmly believe that the government has no right to ask the caste of a person. Who is the government to ask the caste of a person. If they are interested in the welfare of people, they should close the Special Marriage Act. Whoever talks about caste and religion, they are declared as communal persons. The government should clarify the parameters on which it is conducting a caste-based census in Bihar," Prasad said.

"The leaders here do not want Bihar to move away from the casteism. However, there are many good leaders in Bihar who went ahead and did inter-caste and community marriages to break the casteist bonds," she added.

"If the caste-based census is taking place in Bihar, it is considered a crime. It is not logical to make casteism alive in Bihar. It is against social equality and socialist values. The leaders of Bihar are just doing politics over the caste for years. When we are saying that we belong to transgender community, the government has put us under the OBC category which is based on caste," she said.

BJP, the main Opposition party in Bihar, already claimed that the caste- based census will increase communal tension in Bihar.

--IANS
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