New Delhi, May 17 (IANS): Supreme Court judge Sanjay Karol on Wednesday opted out from hearing a plea filed by the Bihar government against the Patna High Court order, which stayed the caste survey by the state government.

The matter was listed before a bench of Justices B.R. Gavai and Sanjay Karol, who was the Chief Justice of the Patna High Court before being elevated as apex court judge on February 6. Justice Karol said that he was party to some of the connected litigations, which were earlier heard in the high court.

The bench directed the matter be placed before Chief Justice of India D.Y. Chandrachud for constitution of an appropriate bench.

The Bihar government filed an appeal challenging the May 4 order of the high court. The state contended that the stay will adversely affect the entire exercise and collection of caste-based data is a constitutional mandate under Articles 15 and 16.

The state government contended that it has already completed more than 80 per cent of the survey work in some districts and less than 10 per cent of the work is pending. It further argued that the stay on the collection of data would cause a huge loss and if finally, the action of the state is upheld, the state would be required to put logistics in place with additional expenditure and burden on the public exchequer.

The high court, while hearing a batch of petitions, had directed the state government to immediately stop the caste-based survey. It also asked the state to ensure the data collected is secured and not shared with anybody until final orders in the matter and fixed July 3 as the next date for the hearing.