IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT PATNA Civil Writ Jurisdiction Case No.5973 of 2009 =================================================== Sheo Shankar Das, son of Ram Nath Das, resident of village Nagpura Ward No.5, Police Station Simari, District-Buxar .... .... Petitioner Versus 1. The State Of Bihar through Chief Secretary, Govt. of Bihar, Old Secretariate, Patna 2. The Hon’ble Chief Minister, Govt. of Bihar, Patna 3. The Hon’ble Education Minister, Govt. of Bihar, Patna 4. The Principal Secretary, Personnel and Administrative Reforms Department Govt. of Bihar, Patna 5. The Principal Secretary, Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribes Welfare Department, Govt. of Bihar, Patna 6. The Editor, Bihar State Text Book Publishing Corporation, Budha Marg, Patna 7. Manager, New Ratan Priya Press, Langar Toli, Patna-4 8. The Director Primary Education, Govt. of Bihar, Patna 9. The Chief Editor, National Council of Educational research and Training, New Delhi 10. The Union of India, through secretary, Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, 6th Floor, A-Wing, Shashtri Bhawan, New Delhi- 110001 11. The Secretary, Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment 6th Floor, A-Wing, Shashtri Bhawan, New Delhi-110001 12. The Editor, Prabhat Khabar, Patna .... .... Respondents =================================================== Appearance : For the Petitioner : Mr. Arbind Kumar, Adv. For the State :- A. K. Dubey, A.C. to A.A.G.-4 For the Respondent No.12 :- Mr. Partha Sarthy, Advocate Mr. Mithilesh Prasad Singh, Advocate For Union of India :- Mr. P.L. Jaiswal (C.G.C.) For Text-Book Corporation:- Mr.Sandeep Kumar, Advocate Mr. Ajit Kumar, Advocate =================================================== 2 7 13-10-2011 The present writ petition has been filed in the form of Public Interest Litigation being aggrieved by printing of word “ Harijan” in Chapter-5 “Apna Bharosa” 2nd line from top of page 13 of Bal Bharti-Bhag-3 and other text books like Adhunik Bharat, Class-VIII, Bal Bharti, Bhaag-VII, Class-V and Hamara Bharat Samasya Aur Chunautiya, Class-VIII published by Bihar State Test Book Publishing Corporation Limited as well as the word “Harijan” used in a news items published in Prabhat Khabar a Hindi daily on 5th Feb 2009. It has been contented before us that in spite of directions issued from the National Commission for Scheduled Castes in its meeting dated 16.10.2007 vide letter no. 6/6/NCSC 2007- C.Cell dated November 27, 2007 not to use the word “Dalit” as interchargeable with S.Cs in future still the textbooks contain the words “Dalit” and “Harijan”. Under the above circumstances, we are of the opinion that if the petitioner is so aggrieved of the words “Dalit” and “Harijan” liberty is given to him to make a representation bringing into notice the communication received from the National commission for S.Cs to the Chief Secretary, Govt. of Bihar not to use the words 3 “Dalit” and “Harijan” from the text-books in the next commencing academic year and as and when such representation is made the concerned authority shall dispose of the same in accordance with law as expeditiously as possible before printing of the textbooks for the next academic session commences. With the above observation, the writ petition stands disposed of. ASHWINI/- (T. Meena Kumari, J) (Vikash Jain, J)