Supreme Court dismisses petitions against Bihar's caste survey

New Delhi: The Supreme Court refused to hear a set of pleas that challenged the decision to conduct a caste survey by the Bihar government. On Friday, a bench of Justices BR Gavai and Vikram Nath observed that there was no merit in the petitions and advised the petitioners to approach the concerned high court, PTI reported.

The bench told the petitioners, "So this is a publicity interest litigation. How can we issue directions on how much reservation should be granted to such and such caste. Sorry, we can't issue such directions and can't entertain these petitions."

Hearing three petitions on the issue, including one by an NGO, the apex court said that the petitioners could approach the Patna High Court for an appropriate remedy.

The court ruled, "All the petitions are dismissed as withdrawn with liberty to seek appropriate remedies in law."

On January 1, when a petitioner pleaded for an urgent hearing on the matter, the Supreme Court had said that it would list it on January 20.