Patna HC Denies Early Hearing On Bihar Caste Census, Stay To Continue. Hearing On July 3

The Patna High Court has rejected the plea of the Bihar government that urged it to hear the case on the caste census at an early date.

In a big jolt to the Bihar government, the Patna High Court on Tuesday refused to hear the case on the caste census at an early date. The court rejected the early hearing plea and said that the hearing will take place on the date fixed earlier, that is on July 3rd. The court said that the stay on the census will remain in effect till then. Notably, a petition was filed in the Patna High Court on the behalf of the Bihar government urging an early hearing in the matter.  

The high court had fixed the date of hearing on May 9, accepting the interlocutory application filed by the Bihar government.  

Last week on Thursday, the Patna High Court put a stay on the caste-based census in its interim order while hearing a petition challenging and seeking an interim stay on the enumeration of castes and economic survey in Bihar. The Patna High Court on Wednesday completed the hearing and reserved its judgment for a day. 

In the hearing, a division bench of Chief Justice KV Chandran heard the petitions filed by Akhilesh Kumar and others. 

Advocates Dinu Kumar, Ritu Raj and Abhinav Srivastava on behalf of the petitioners and advocate General PK Shahi on behalf of the State presented the parties before the court. Dinu Kumar told the court that the State government is conducting caste and economic surveys. He said that this right to conduct surveys is beyond the jurisdiction of the State government. 

Government's Arguments

Advocate General PK Shahi during the hearing on Wednesday said that, the survey is being conducted to make plans for public welfare and to improve the social level. He said that after the proposal was passed by the Bihar Legislative Assembly and Legislative Council, the decision to conduct a caste census was taken. This is a policy decision of the state government, and budget provisions have been made for it. This census will make it easier for the government to formulate policies for the welfare of the poor.

Petitioner's Arguments

The petitioners in the case have argued that the Bihar government does not have the right to count castes. By doing so, the government is violating the Constitution. The petition states that in the caste-based census, not only people's castes are being recorded but also their occupations and qualifications, which is a violation of their privacy rights. The petition stated that the state government does not have the constitutional authority to conduct a caste census. Moreover, the expenditure of 500 crore rupees on this census is a waste of taxpayers' money.