PATNA: The Bihar government on Thursday moved the Supreme Court against the Patna high court’s May 4 stay on its caste survey. The state has also challenged the HC’s May 9 rejection of its plea for early hearing of the matter. The HC had fixed July 3 as the next hearing.
Bihar advocate-general P K Shahi confirmed that a special leave petition (SLP), contesting the stay, had been filed in SC. Shahi reportedly left for New Delhi on Thursday. Sources said an urgent hearing would be sought on the SLP before the SC goes into its summer vacation from May third week.
Advocate Rahul Pratap, counsel for Youth for Society whose PIL was one of the pleas that led to the HC stay, said a “caveat petition” has already been in the top court. A “caveat” is filed in anticipation to be heard in a case.
In its stay order last week, an HC division bench had “prima facie” held that state was conducting a “caste census” “under the garb of a survey”.
A census falls within Parliament’s legislative powers, the HC had said, adding the current survey raises questions about violations of the fundamental right of privacy in respect to personal data collected in the exercise. “The state government has no right to conduct such a caste census in Bihar,” the HC order said and asked the state to keep the survey data, collected so far, intact and unshared.