Supreme Court To Hear Plea Challenging Bihar Caste Census On January 20

A Public Interest Litigation (PIL) petition has been filed in the Supreme Court challenging caste-based census in Bihar. Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud agreed to list the petition next Friday after the matter was mentioned before him for urgent posting.

“Let the case come up next Friday,” the CJI said.

The petition filed by Nalanda resident Akhilesh Kumar seeks to quash the state government’s notification on the ground that the subject of the census falls in List 1 of the Seventh Schedule of the Constitution and only the Union has the power to hold census.  It is further argued that the Census Act 1948 does not contemplate caste-based census.

The petitioner challenged the state government notification as "violating the basic structure of the Constitution".

The Bihar government launched the caste survey on January 7 this year. The plan is to compile data on each family digitally through a mobile application in the survey from panchayat to the district level.