PATNA: In a shot in the arm for Nitish Kumar government, the Patna high court on Tuesday dismissed all five PIL pleas challenging the decision of the Bihar government to conduct a caste-based survey in the state. The order came as a major relief for the state government as it is likely to resume the caste census.
After hearing a total of five PIL pleas challenging various aspects of the survey, a bench of chief justice K Vinod Chandran and Justice Partha Sarthy pronounced in open court that all pleas have been dismissed.
On July 7, the court had reserved its order and fixed August 1 to pronounce its order after hearing the pleas of the petitioners.
The Bihar government, on the other hand, had submitted before the court that 80% of the survey was complete. The first phase, which began on January 7, was a household counting exercise and it was completed by January 21.
The second phase started on April 15, wherein the information on people's caste and their social-economic condition was collected. The entire exercise was scheduled to end by May 2023.
However, hearing the PIL pleas against the Bihar government's ambitious decision, the Patna high court, on May 4, put an interim stay on it while observing that it prima facie amounts to a census that the state government has no power to carry out.
Advocate Dinu Kumar, appearing on behalf of one of the petitioners, said that they would move the Supreme Court against the order of the high court. He said the decision to move the apex court would be taken after going through the order of the high court.