Caste census exercise completed by August 6, Bihar government informs Supreme Court

The decision of a caste census was taken by the Bihar cabinet on June 2 last year, months after the Centre ruled out such an exercise in the Census.

New Delhi: The Bihar Government on Friday informed the Supreme Court that an exercise of conducting surveys of the caste census in Bihar was conducted by August 6.

Countering the Bihar Government lawyer’s argument, the petitioner’s lawyer urged the top court that he sought to stay on publication of the results of the caste survey.

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But a bench of justices Sanjiv Khanna and SVN Bhatti said that it will not stay the surveys unless there is some prima facie case warranting such a stay.

Appearing for the petitioner, Senior Advocate CS Vaidyanathan said that the Bihar caste survey was done on the basis of an executive order and it cannot be done.

The court hearing the argument in length adjourned the case for August 21 for further hearing.

Various petitions were moved in the Supreme Court challenging the Patna High Court judgement upholding the caste survey ordered by the Bihar Government.

Among the petitioners are organisations Ek Soch Ek Prayas and Youth for Equality.

One petition was moved by Akhilesh Kumar through advocate Tanya Shree. He has challenged the Patna High Court decision which dismissed pleas challenging the Nitish Kumar government’s decision to conduct the survey based on castes. The order was delivered by Patna High Court on August 1.

The petitioner said that the Patna High Court has erroneously dismissed the said writ petition without taking into consideration the fact that the State of Bihar lacked the competence to notify caste-based survey vide notification dated June 6, 2022.

“In terms of Constitutional mandate, only the Union Government is empowered to conduct Census. In the present case, the State of Bihar has sought to usurp the powers of the Union of India, by merely publishing a notification in the official gazette,” the petition said.

The petitioner submitted that the notification dated June 6, 2022, is against the Constitutional mandate of distribution of powers between the State and the Union legislature as enshrined under Article 246 of the Constitution read with Schedule VIIth of the Constitution and ultra vires the Census Act, 1948 read with Census Rules, 1990 and is therefore void ab initio.

“The short question of constitutional importance that arises in the present petition is whether the Notification dated June 6th, 2022 published by the State of Bihar based on the decision of the Bihar Cabinet dated June 2nd, 2022, to conduct Caste based Survey from its own resources and the consequent appointment of a District Magistrate to supervise the same is within the Constitutional mandate of separation of power between the State and Union?,” the petition read.

The petitioner submitted that the entire exercise of conducting the Census by the State of Bihar is without authority and legislative competence and reeks of malafide. That the Notification dated June 6th, 2022 is against the Constitutional mandate of distribution of powers between the State and the Union legislature as enshrined under Article 246 of the Constitution read with Schedule VIIth of the Constitution and ultra-vires the Census Act, 1948 read with Census Rules, 1990, the petition said.

“Therefore, the Notification dated June 6th, 2022 falls foul of Articles 14, and 246 of the Constitution of India and is liable to be set aside,” the petition said.

The petitioner claimed that the Union has the authority to conduct Census in India and the state Government had no authority to decide and notify the conduct of a caste-based survey in the state of Bihar and the notification dated June 6, 2022 is null and void.

Last week Bihar Government filed a caveat in Supreme Court in a matter pertaining to the Patna High Court judgement upholding the caste survey ordered by the state government. A Caveat application is filed by a litigant to ensure that no adverse order is passed against them without being heard. The Patna High Court dismissed pleas challenging the Nitish Kumar government’s decision to conduct the survey based on castes.

In the survey data pertaining to people of all castes, sub-castes, socioeconomic conditions, etc would be collected.

The decision of a caste census was taken by the Bihar cabinet on June 2 last year, months after the Centre ruled out such an exercise in the Census. The survey would cover an estimated population of 12.70 crores in an estimated 2.58 crore households in 38 districts, which have 534 blocks and 261 urban local bodies.