Bihar Caste Census: Hearing Concluded In High Court On Caste Based Census, Verdict Reserved

Bihar Caste Census: Hearing Concluded In High Court On Caste Based Census, Verdict Reserved

The Patna High Court has reserved its verdict after completing five days of hearing on petitions challenging caste-based enumeration and economic survey.

Chief Justice K. A division bench of Vinod Chandran and Justice Partha Sarathi reserved the order after hearing the arguments of the state government on the petitions filed by “Youth for Equality” and others.

Advocate General PK Shahi, appearing for the state government, told the court that the purpose of this survey is to collect data regarding common citizens, which will be used for the welfare of the public.

Citing the Collection of Statistics Act, 2008, he said that the state government can collect information related to its citizens. The ideology of no caste is not possible for the next hundred years. Caste related information is also given at the time of admission in educational institutions.

He told that no one is being forced to give information in this survey. He also cited several Supreme Court judgments to say that under the law a state can collect information about its citizens. Information of citizens is safe with the government.

The survey is almost 80 per cent complete. There is no violation of the right to privacy of the citizens. The State is not seeking any information which is not available on the public portal. The bench reserved its decision after hearing all the parties on the matter.