SC refuses to restrain Bihar government from publishing further data from caste survey

SC refuses to stay Bihar Govt from publishing caste survey data; notices issued to examine breakdown of data & its availability to public. Privacy not breached as no individual's name & identity published. Issues of power of state govt to conduct exercise to be examined.

A Supreme Court Bench headed by Justice Sanjiv Khanna refused to stay the Bihar Government from publishing or acting on data from its caste survey. It said it cannot stop the State from taking any policy decision.

The bench of Justices Sanjiv Khanna and S.V.N. Bhatti issued notice on a batch of pleas and posted the petitions challenging the survey in January 2024. The Bench told the Bihar Government that one of the issues that would come up for discussion would be the breakdown of the data compiled in the survey

The top court rejected the objections of the petitioners that the State government has preempted the stay order by publishing some data and demanded that a complete stay should be ordered on further publication of data.

"We are not staying 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 govt to conduct this exercise," the Bench said.

Senior advocate Aprajita Singh, appearing for the petitioners, said there is breach of privacy in the matter and the High Court order is wrong.

To this, the bench said since the name and other identities of any individual have not been published, therefore the argument that there was a breach of privacy may not be correct.