New Delhi [India]: The petition challenging the Bihar government’s Notification for conducting the Caste Census in the State was granted an urgent hearing by the Supreme Court on January 11.
A public interest litigation has been filed in the Supreme Court against the ongoing caste census in the State of Bihar, stating that the exercise violated the basic structure of the Constitution.
A lawyer mentioned the plea before the Supreme Court seeking an urgent petition hearing challenging the Bihar Government’s Notification for conducting the Caste Census in the State. A bench led by Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud said it would hear the petition, on January 20.
Another petition was moved in the Supreme Court recently by a social worker, Akhilesh Kumar, a Nalanda resident through Advocate Barun Kumar Sinha and Abhishek, who, in his petition, said, “That the cause of action arose on/from the impugned Notification dated 06.06.2022 issued by Deputy Secretary, Government of Bihar, whereby the decision of the Government to conduct caste census has been communicated to the media and public at large.”
“The decision of the State of Bihar is illegal, arbitrary, irrational, unconstitutional, and without the authority of law”, said the petitioner Akhilesh Kumar through Advocates Barun Kumar Sinha and Abhishek.
There are more than 200 castes in Bihar, and all those are classified as General Category, OBC, EBC, Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribes, according to the petitioner’s submission. According to plea, in the State of Bihar, there are 113 castes which are known as OBC and EBC; eight castes are included in the category of Upper Caste, there are about 22 sub-castes which are included in the Scheduled Caste category, and there are 29 about Sub Castes which are included in the scheduled category.
“The impugned Notification accords differential treatment without intelligible differentia to illegal decision of State of Bihar is illegal, arbitrary irrational and unconstitutional,” the petitioner Akhilesh Kumar said, who urged the top court to issue a direction for quashing the impugned Notification dated January 6, 2022, and to direct the authority concerned to refrain from conducting the caste census as it is against the basic structure of the Constitution of India.
The State of Bihar kickstarted the caste-based Census on January 7, 2023, claiming that the exercise would provide scientific data for carrying out welfare schemes for weaker sections of the society.
The plea, which was likely to be taken up for hearing in the coming days, said the Notification issued by the Deputy Secretary of the Bihar government with respect to conducting a caste-based survey in the State was both ‘discriminatory’ and ‘unconstitutional’.
As per the plea, the Notification violated Article 14 of the Constitution, which provided for equality before the law and equal protection of the law, adding that it was “illegal, arbitrary, irrational and unconstitutional”.
It pointed out that if the proclaimed purpose of the caste-based survey was to accommodate the people of the State suffering from caste persecution, the distinction on the basis of caste and country of origin was both irrational and unjustified.
