Supreme Court judge recuses from hearing Bihar govt’s plea on caste survey

Justice Karol, who was the chief justice of the Patna HC before being elevated as apex court judge on Feb 6, said that he was party to some of the related litigations which were earlier heard in the HC

Supreme Court judge Sanjay Karol on Wednesday recused himself from hearing a petition filed by the Bihar government challenging a Patna High Court order granting a stay on the caste survey it was conducting.

The Bihar government requested the court if the matter could be urgently listed. (HT file image)

Justice Karol, who was the chief justice of the Patna high court before being elevated as apex court judge on February 6, said that he was party to some of the related litigations which were earlier heard in the high court.

As soon as the matter came up for hearing, justice Karol said, “I have been party to some of the orders passed in this case.”

The apex court bench, also comprising Justice BR Gavai then directed that the matter be placed before Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud for constitution of an appropriate bench.

The Bihar government requested the court if the matter could be urgently listed as the survey in the state had come to a halt following the order passed by the Patna high court on May 4 on the grounds that the state was not authorised to conduct a census.

The Bihar government appeal filed by advocate Manish Kumar stated that 80% of the survey work was over, while in some districts, the work remaining was less than 10%.

The state said the collection of caste-based data is a constitutional mandate under Articles 15 and 16.

Article 15 of the Constitution says the state shall not discriminate against any citizen on grounds only of religion, race, caste, sex, place of birth or any of them, while Article 16 states there shall be equal opportunity for all citizens in matters relating to employment or appointment to any office under the State.

The state appeal further sought to distinguish that the work undertaken by the state was a survey and not a census and this power was conferred on states by the Constitution.

The first round of caste survey in Bihar was conducted between January 7 and 21. The second round started on April 15 and was supposed to continue till May 15.

It was in June last year the state government decided to conduct a door-to-door caste census.

In January, a petition challenging this survey was filed in the top court which felt that the same should be filed before the high court.

The survey was opposed on the ground that this was not meant to be a sample survey but a census which only Centre can conduct under Section 3 of the Census Act, 1948 and the accompanying Census Rules.

The petitioner before the high court was Youth for Equality which argued that such a survey had no legal backing and was conducted on an executive order issued by the state keeping the ensuing elections in mind.

The survey was also sought to be challenged on the ground of violation of right to privacy under Article 21 as the survey required every household to disclose sensitive personal details such as religion, caste, and income.

There were other petitions too filed before the HC questioning the expenditure for the survey estimated to be ₹500 crore to be spent from the Contingency Fund maintained by the state.