In Bihar, the hearing on the caste-based survey is underway on the fifth consecutive day in Patna High Court. The hearing which began on 3rd July before the bench headed by the Chief Justice K Vinod Chandran and Justice Madhuresh Prasad has witnessed several arguments in support and opposition over the right of the state government to conduct the caste based survey. The Advocate General of Bihar, Prashant Kumar Shahi has submitted government proposition about the necessity of this kind of survey citing the upliftment of marginalized people.

The Advocate General has said that the state government is a competent authority to conduct a caste based survey, collecting data on caste and socio-economic condition of the people of the state. During the ongoing marathon hearing the state government has also mentioned that 80 percent of survey work has been completed. It may be mentioned that bunch of petitions have been filed challenging the caste based survey.

Following this the Patna High Court had put an interim stay on the caste based survey on the 4th May this year. In its remark the Patna High Court had observed that the Caste Based Survey amounts to a case in which the State Government has no power to carry out. It had further observed that that in the garb of caste based survey the state government is conducting Caste Census for which the power is vested in the Parliament.