SC asks Patna HC to decide plea against caste survey ‘in three days’
Hindustan TimesThe Supreme Court on Friday told the Patna high court to immediately take a call on petitions seeking stay of the caste-based survey in the state and decide the matter preferably within three days, even as it was sought to know why the Bihar government was labouring so hard to gather caste data by undertaking a door-to-door survey. With the survey entering the second phase and expected to conclude by May 15, a bench of justices MR Shah and JB Pardiwala said, “It is not in dispute that the matters are pending before the high court. It appears that as on date, there is no decision by the high court even on grant of interim order.” The court was hearing an appeal filed by an organisation, Youth For Equality, which had approached the high court on April 18 to stay the survey. The SC allowed the petitioner to make an application for stay before the high court while requesting that the same be considered and finally decided “at the earliest”, preferably within three days from the mentioning of the application before the chief justice of the high court.