Patna HC allows caste-based survey in Bihar
The caste-based survey will continue in Bihar after the Patna High Court lifted the temporary ban on Tuesday and dismissed pleas challenging the Nitish Kumar government's decision.
The Patna High Court on Tuesday while hearing Public Interest Litigations (PIL) related to madrassas receiving grants from the state on the basis of fake documents, ordered the Additional Chief Secretary of the Education Department of Bihar to conduct an investigation of 2,459 government-aided madrasas in the state.
A division bench comprising of Chief Justice Sanjay Karol and Justice Partha Sarathi has asked the Additional Chief Secretary to hold a meeting with all the District Magistrates of the state to check the authenticity of the recognition of a total of 2,459 madrassas in the entire state. The court has also ordered the education department not to pay the grant amount to 609 madrasas of the state till the completion of the investigation.
Petitioner’s lawyer Rashid Izhar told the court that Special Director of Secondary Education Mohd. Tasnimur Rahman in Sitamarhi district’s investigation report on madrassas taking government grants has said that about 88 madrassas have taken government grants on fake papers in Sitamarhi district.
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The court has sought the Deputy Superintendent of Police to submit a complete report of the investigation to the court. A PIL was filed by petitioner Mohammad Alauddin Bismil of the Sitamarhi district of Bihar which stated that fake recognition was being given to madrassas on the basis of forged documents in the state.
Madrassas are being run openly in the state in a fraudulent manner and government grants are being collected, the petition further stated.
An FIR was also registered regarding the matter.
Expressing displeasure over this, the Patna High Court has taken 2,459 madrassas on the radar.
The next hearing in this matter will now be held on February 14.
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