63% of the state’s entire population are OBCs and EBCs.
The Patna High Court’s August 1 judgement approving a caste survey in Bihar was challenged on Tuesday, and the Supreme Court said that it will hear those arguments on October 6.
Solicitor General Tushar Mehta was informed by a bench of Justices Sanjiv Khanna and SVN Bhatti that the appeals have been scheduled for hearing.The bench said this in response to Mehta’s Friday request for listing in a distinct suit involving the Haryana State Industrial and Infrastructure Development Corporation Ltd.
OBCs and EBCs make up a staggering 63% of the state’s population, according to the findings of a much-anticipated caste study that the Nitish Kumar government in Bihar announced on Monday, months before the 2024 parliamentary elections.
The state’s overall population, according to the data made public, was little over 13.07 crore, with the Extremely Backward Classes making up the largest socioeconomic group (36%), followed by the Other Backward Classes at 27.13%.According to the report, Yadavs, an OBC group that includes Tejashwi Yadav, the deputy chief minister, are the largest in terms of population, making up 14.27% of the total.In the state, which also houses approximately 22 lakh (1.68%) members of the Scheduled Tribes, Dalits, also known as the Scheduled Castes, made up 19.65 percent of the overall population.The hearing on petitions challenging the Patna government was postponed by the supreme court on September 6 until October 3.High Court’s August 1 order giving the go-ahead for a caste survey in Bihar.
The Patna High Court’s authorization of a caste survey in Bihar was rejected a stay by the Supreme Court on August 7, delaying the hearing on petitions opposing it until August 14.
Other petitions have been submitted in addition to the one from the NGO “Ek Soch Ek Paryas,” including one from a resident of Nalanda named Akhilesh Kumar who argues that the state government’s notification of the exercise violates the constitution.
According to Kumar’s plea, only the Union government is permitted to conduct a census under the norms of the constitution. In its 101-page decision, the top court had stated, “We deem the state’s action to be completely acceptable, launched with due competence and the legally permissible goal of providing development with justice.
The state administration acted swiftly and suspended all active teacher training courses a day after the high court declared the caste census “valid” so that teachers could be enlisted for an early completion of the survey.
The survey has been finished, and the results will be made public soon, the Nitish Kumar administration had stated on August 25.
Senior lawyer C S Vaidyanathan, who is the petitioner in the case, had objected to making the data public because he believed it would violate people’s right to privacy.
