Patna: A two-judge bench of the Patna High Court Thursday ordered a stay on the statewide caste-based survey being conducted by the Nitish Kumar-led Bihar government. Bihar Advocate General P.K. Shahi had informed the court Wednesday that 80 per cent of the work was complete.
In a 31-page interim order, the bench comprising Chief Justice K. Vinod Chandran and Justice Madhuresh Prasad maintained that it was prima facie of the opinion that the state government “has no power to carry out a caste-based survey, in the manner in which it is fashioned now”.
It “would amount to a census, thus impinging upon the legislative power of the Union Parliament”, the court added.
The interim order was issued after the court heard three pleas challenging the Bihar government’s decision to conduct a caste-based survey. The state government has defended the exercise as being crucial to the uplift of every section of society.
In its order, the bench asked why a bill to that effect was not tabled in the Bihar assembly when legislators from both the ruling and opposition parties passed a resolution in favour of a caste-based survey.
The bench, while fixing 3 July as the next date for the hearing, has directed the state government to ensure that the data collected so far is preserved and “not shared with anybody” until the final orders are passed.
Citing a notification issued vis-a-vis the caste-based survey, the court noted that the state government “intends to share data with the leaders of different parties of the state assembly, the ruling party and opposition party which is also a matter of great concern”.
This notification, it added, raises a larger question of the right to privacy, since the pro forma questionnaire seeks 17 responses including details about how much members of a family earn and whether they own vehicles, or laptops.
Moreover, the HC said the state government’s decision to utilise Rs 500 crore from contingency funds to conduct the statewide caste-based survey needs to be “looked at” through the prism of legislation on that count, as well as the Rules of Business framed by the state.
The second phase of the statewide caste-based survey began on 15 April 2023, during which the government aimed to document the caste status and socio-economic indicators of roughly 12.7 crore individuals.
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‘Not a political issue’
Chief Minister Nitish Kumar told reporters Thursday that the caste-based survey was being conducted to gain a better understanding of the socio-economic conditions of various sections of society.
Maintaining that the move was not political in nature, Janata Dal (United) spokesperson Neeraj Kumar told ThePrint, “The caste-based survey was carried out after unanimous resolutions were passed in its favour (in the assembly). The issue should not be discussed as a political issue.”
Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) Rajya Sabha MP Manoj Jha, meanwhile, termed the Patna HC’s order “unfortunate” and added that the caste-based survey was “aimed at achieving a social equilibrium in society”.
The Opposition BJP went on the offensive following the Patna HC’s order. “Nitish government is creating a record of sorts of losing cases in courts. Decision to have a caste-based survey had approval of all parties and yet the Nitish government could not present a strong case in court,” said former Bihar BJP chief Sanjay Jaiswal.
The caste-based survey, launched on 7 January this year, has been central to Chief Minister Nitish Kumar’s politics for over two years now.
In August 2021, when his party was part of the BJP-led NDA, Nitish had led an all-party delegation to Prime Minister Narendra Modi with a demand for a nationwide caste-based census.
After the demand was met with a lukewarm response, the general administration department (GAD) of the Bihar government issued a notification last July, expressing the government’s intention to carry out a caste-based survey for which it issued a list of 240 castes.
Data collected during the ongoing survey was to be collated by 16 May and released soon after.
(Edited by Amrtansh Arora)