The Patna High Court on Tuesday rejected the government’s request to hear the caste inquiry case early, saying the government had been given two days to present its case during the previous hearing.
On May 4, the court, in response to a combined writ petition, provisionally stayed the caste survey, saying the survey was a “census,” which is the sole domain of the Union Parliament. The court also raised questions about privacy and data security issues and the absence of legislative sanction for the estimated Rs 500 crore expenditures for the two-phase census, the first phase of which was completed from January 7 to 21. The second phase, which had started on April 15, was to be completed on May 15. The court had set the next hearing date for July 3.
A division bench of Chief Justice K Vinod Chandran and Justice Madhuresh Prasad, hearing the state government’s request for review to hear the matter with early priority as the inquiry was halted midway, said the court did not he saw merit in the state government’s statement as the government had had two full days to present its case during the previous hearing. The court said the matter would be heard on July 3, as scheduled.
Dinu Kumar, counsel for one of the six petitioners, said the indian express: “The court made it clear to the state government that it would not accept the state government’s perception that its interim order is the final order. The court also rejected Advocate General PK Shahi’s request to allow the caste survey with the guarantee of keeping the data safe. The court said allowing the survey would mean revoking its order.” Kumar said the court made it clear that it had heard the matter as directed by the Supreme Court.
The state government cannot approach the High Court, which has anyway ordered the matter to be heard by Patna HC.
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