Explained | Why is Bihar’s caste-based survey facing a challenge in the Supreme Court? Premium

Bihar’s caste survey is being challenged in the Supreme Court. We explore the background and details of the case.

The story so far: The Supreme Court is set to hear on August 18 a batch of petitions challenging the Patna High Court’s verdict upholding the Bihar government’s ongoing caste survey. A Bench of Justices Sanjay Khanna and SVN Bhatti on August 14 declined a plea seeking a stay on the controversial survey.

On August 1, in a significant relief to Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, the Patna High Court allowed the State government to continue with the survey after observing that the action of the State was perfectly valid, initiated with due competence, and in the furtherance of a ‘compelling public interest’.

On May 4, the High Court had issued an interim stay on the survey. Following this, the State government filed a petition seeking an early hearing of the case which the High Court eventually dismissed. Subsequently, the State government approached the Supreme Court to lift the stay, but the Supreme Court on May 18 declined the relief observing that the High Court had kept the matter for hearing on July 3. 

From July 3 to July 7, continuous hearings were held by the High Court Bench of Chief Justice K.V. Chandran, and the verdict was reserved for August 1. 

On January 7, the State government launched a two-phase caste survey in Bihar, stating that detailed information on socio-economic conditions would help create better government policies for disadvantaged groups. Last year on June 6, the Bihar government issued a notification to this effect following a State Cabinet decision on June 2, 2022.

The survey, which will also record the economic status of families alongside their caste, is estimated to collect socio-economic data for a population of 12.70 crore in the 38 districts of Bihar. The first phase of the survey, which involved a house listing exercise, was carried out from January 7 to January 12. 

The government was in the middle of the second phase, which had begun on April 15 and was to be completed by May 15, but the survey was halted after the High Court stay on May 4. Following the stay order, the Bihar government indicated that it may take the legislative route to complete the survey ‘at any cost.’