 "SC won't stop Bihar from publishing caste survey data. Here's why")
The Supreme Court announced on Friday that it will not prevent the Bihar government from publishing details of the caste census, as the court cannot interfere in the state's policy-making decisions.
A bench comprising Justices Sanjiv Khanna and SVN Bhatti issued a formal notice on a set of pleas that challenge the 1 August order of the Patna High Court, which approved the caste survey in Bihar. The matter has been listed for January 2024.
The bench has sought a response from the Bihar government on the issue within four weeks.
What Did the Court Say?
According to the lawyer representing the petitioners, the caste census data were not collected in line with the Supreme Court's orders, and there was no lawful reason to collect the details for the survey.
The Supreme Court rejected the petitioners' claims that the Bihar government had preempted the stay order by releasing some data and called for an order to halt further data publication.
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"We are not pausing anything at this moment. We cannot stop the state government or any government from taking a policy decision. That would be wrong. We are going to examine the other issue regarding the power of the state government to conduct this exercise," the bench stated.
Senior advocate Aprajita Singh, representing the petitioners, argued that there was a breach of privacy in the case and that the high court's order was incorrect.
In reply, the bench noted that since the names and other identifiers of any individuals have not been published, the argument that there was a breach of privacy may not hold water.
"The more significant issue for the court's consideration is the breakdown of data and its availability to the public," the bench stated.
On 2 October, the government led by Nitish Kumar in Bihar released the findings of its caste census, months ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. The data showed that Other Backward Classes (OBCs) and Extremely Backward Classes (EBCs) make up an astonishing 63 per cent of the state's total population.
(With inputs from PTI)