The Patna High Court on Tuesday upheld the caste-based survey undertaken by the Bihar government earlier this year, reported Bar and Bench. A bench of Chief Justice K Vinod Chandran and Justice Partha Sarthy dismissed a bunch of petitions challenging the exercise.

The first phase of the survey had started on January 7. However, the High Court put an interim stay on the survey in May while the second phase was underway.

The Bihar government had challenged the stay order in the Supreme Court, but it refused to interfere as the High Court had already reserved its verdict on the matter by then.

Also read: Why Bihar is conducting a caste census

At the start of the first phase of the survey, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar had said that the exercise would benefit all communities. He had said that the survey will provide a detailed record of castes and communities in the state, which will help in their development.

India had last conducted an exercise to count the population of all caste groups in 1931. In independent India, census reports have published data noting the population of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes but not other caste groups.