NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court scheduled April 16 for the final hearing in case pertaining to the various public interesr litigation (PIL) petitions filed challenging the constutionality of the caste-based survey case conducted by the Bihar government.
A two-judge bench of the Supreme Court, headed by Justice Sanjiv Khanna and also comprising Justice Dipankar Datta were hearing speacial leave petitions by the non governmental organisations (NGOs) Ek Soch Ek Prayas and Youth for Equality against an order of Patna High Court that had uphold the Bihar government's decision to undertake caste-based survey.
Notably, the court has consistently refused to pass any order of stay or status quo to restrain the State from publishing or acting on the caste survey data before hearing the parties at length.
One of the petitioners, Akhilesh Kumar in his plea, alleged that the notification passed by the Bihar govt was “discriminatory, incorrect and unconstitutional”.
Earlier, the SC had asked the Bihar govt to put the break-up and findings of the caste survey data in the public domain to ensure those aggrieved petitioners to challenge the findings or any other issues that they think should be addressed to.
The court also had made it clear that it would examine the legal issue of the correctness of the high court judgement and legality of such an exercise by the state of Bihar govt.