Patna: The Nitish Kumar government has suffered a major setback as it approached the Supreme Court against the ban on Caste Census in Bihar. In fact, the apex court has categorically refused to stay the High Court's decision and has fixed the matter for further hearing on July 14. A two-member bench comprising Justice Abhay S Oka and Justice Rajesh Bindal was constituted by Chief Justice (CJI) DY Chandrachud to hear the matter.
Earlier, Justice Sanjay Karol, who was part of this bench in the previous hearing, recused himself from hearing the matter, after which the new bench was constituted. Let us tell you that on May 4, the Patna High Court had put an interim stay on the caste census being conducted by the state government in Bihar. The HC asked the state government to stop the caste census and ensure that the data already collected is kept safe. The High Court has fixed July 3 for the next hearing in the matter.
This decision of Patna HC was challenged by the Nitish government in the Supreme Court. The Bihar government had said in its petition that the ban on the caste census would have a negative impact on the entire exercise. Bihar government says that in some districts more than 80 percent survey work of caste census has been completed. But, the Supreme Court refused to give relief to the Nitish government. Let us tell you that while stopping the caste census, the Patna HC had clearly said that the state government does not have the statutory right to conduct caste census, it is a matter of the central government. This exercise of the Nitish government was strongly opposed by the opposition parties, they said that the government should find out the economic condition of the people and help them accordingly, but dividing them into castes will only create disunity in the society and the politicians will take advantage of it.
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