The Supreme Court on Friday refused to restrain the Bihar government from publishing further data from its caste survey in the state. The court said, "We are not staying at this point...We cannot stop the state govt or any govt from taking a decision. That would be wrong." The apex court, however, added that it will consider any issue with regard to data of the caste-based survey. It gave four-week time to the state government to file a reply and adjourned the hearing till January 2024.
"Supreme Court has issued a notice to Bihar government and said that the (caste census) data should not have been published when the matter was pending. The court also said that it would not put a stay on anything as of now," advocate Barun Sinha said.
According to Live Law, Justice Sanjiv Khanna said, "We cannot stop state govt or any govt from taking a decision. That would be wrong. But, if there's an issue with regards to data, that will be considered. We are going to examine the other issue regarding the power of the state govt to conduct this exercise. "
"We will examine other issues as well...privacy apart, because privacy may not be a concern since names and other identifiers are not being published. But, the other part, we will examine. The most important consideration will be with regard to breakdown of data," he said.
Bihar Minister Ashok Choudhary expressed joy over the order and said it was "delightful" for those who support the caste survey.
"...It is a matter of joy for people like us who support this (caste-based survey). It is good. This is delightful for those who support the caste-based census and are in politics alongside Nitish Kumar - who made an effort to empower the most backward by providing them reservations in Panchayat Raj system, made an effort to empower the Dalits and women reservation," Choudhary.
Bihar Caste Survey
The CM Nitish Kumar government in Bihar released findings of its caste survey on Monday that revealed that OBCs and EBCs constitute a massive 63 per cent of the state's total population, reported PTI. According to the data, the state’s total population is a little over 13.07 crore, out of which the Extremely Backward Classes (36 per cent) were the largest social segment followed by the Other Backward Classes (OBCs) at 27.13 per cent.
The survey also showed that Yadavs, the OBC group to which Deputy Chief Minister Tejashwi Yadav belongs, were the largest in terms of the population, accounting for 14.27 per cent of the total.
Dalits, also known as the Scheduled Castes, accounted for 19.65 per cent of the total population in the state, which is also home to nearly 22 lakh (1.68 per cent) people belonging to the Scheduled Tribes.
The top court on Sept 6 had deferred for October 3 the hearing on pleas challenging the Patna High Court's August 1 order giving the go-ahead for a caste survey in Bihar.