The Supreme Court docket is anticipated to listen to on January 20 a petition difficult a caste-based census being undertaken by the Bihar authorities, Chief Justice of India Dhananjaya Y Chandrachud indicated after the matter was talked about to him in courtroom on Wednesday.
Although the lawyer for one of many petitioners tried to steer the CJI for an earlier date, submitting that solely the Union authorities is empowered below the Structure to hold out a census, the CJI declined the request.
“That’s on benefit. You argue this level when the matter is taken up. This shall be listed on Friday subsequent week,” CJI Chandrachud mentioned.
There are a minimum of two petitions pending earlier than the Supreme Court docket which have challenged the June 2022 notification of the Bihar authorities for conducting a caste-based census. Each the petitions, filed individually by Bihar residents, have complained that the state authorities lacks the legislative and government competence to conduct the train.
They’ve cited the seventh Schedule of the Structure, which offers with the division of powers between the Centre and the states, and the Census Act to contend that solely the Union authorities is authorised to take census in the entire or any a part of the territory of India.
The Bihar authorities launched the caste survey train on January 7. It plans to compile information on every household digitally by means of a cellular utility as a part of the eight-level survey — from the panchayat to the district degree. The train shall be accomplished in two phases. Within the first section, which is scheduled to finish on January 21, the variety of all households within the state shall be counted. Within the second section, set to start in March, information pertaining to folks of all castes and religions shall be collected.
For the survey, an estimated inhabitants of 127 million in over 25 million households throughout 38 districts, which have 534 blocks and 261 city native our bodies, shall be lined.
The Bihar cupboard on June 2 final yr determined to conduct the caste-based census within the state, months after the Centre dominated out such an train on the nationwide degree. The conventional decadal census counts spiritual teams and Scheduled Castes (SCs) and Scheduled Tribes (STs) individually.
The caste-based census has been a serious subject in Bihar’s politics. Each the Janata Dal (United) and the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) — the ruling alliance within the state — have been vocal of their demand for the caste census for years. The demand for a caste census was thought of as one of many causes that created sharp divisions between chief minister Nitish Kumar’s JD(U) and the Bharatiya Janata Get together (BJP), and finally resulting in a cut up.
In 2010, the Congress-led UPA authorities on the Centre had agreed to the demand for a caste census at a nationwide degree. However the information collected over the past census was by no means processed.