Supreme Court refuses to stay Bihar Caste Survey; seeks State's response

The Supreme Court on Friday yet again refused to stay the Bihar caste survey and its results, but sought the response of the Bihar government in the matter. [Ek Soch Ek Prayas v. Union of India and ors].A bench of Justices Sanjiv Khanna and SVN Bhatti refused to restrain the government from acting on the data published so far as part of the survey or to interfere with any move to publish more results..The case will be taken up next in January 2024..The top court was hearing multiple petitions challenging the Patna High Court decision to uphold the caste survey that was undertaken by the Bihar government.The results of the survey were declared earlier this week.In a previous hearing, the Court had remarked that in Bihar, most people would be aware of the caste of persons living in the vicinity while pondering on whether the survey violated the right to privacy. Over the course of several earlier hearings, the Court had orally declined to order an interim stay on the survey.The Union Home Ministry, in a counter-affidavit, has stated that only the Central government can conduct a census under the Census Act enacted in 1948..Bihar government announces 10% reservation in judicial service, government law colleges for EWS.Earlier this year, the Patna High Court had upheld the State's decision to undertake the caste survey as perfectly valid.In its August 1 judgment, the High Court opined that the survey was initiated with due competence and a legitimate aim of providing development with justice. The High Court bench of Chief Justice K Vinod Chandran and Justice Partha Sarthy also ruled that the move would not violate an individual's right to privacy since it was in furtherance of a compelling public interest and a legitimate State interest..The survey is being carried out in two phases. The first phase, under which a household counting exercise was taken up, was conducted by the State government in January this year. The second phase of the survey commenced on April 15, focusing on gathering data related to people's caste and socio-economic conditions..The entire process was scheduled to be completed by May this year. However, on May 4, a single-judge bench of the High Court stayed the caste census, opining that the survey appeared to be a census, which could only be carried out by the Central government.Subsequently, the Bihar government moved the Supreme Court against the High Court order of stay. The top court, however, refused to lift the interim stay and asked the State government to approach the High Court.After a division Bench of the High Court finally dismissed the challenge to the survey on August 1, the matter reached the Supreme Court again. Before the Supreme Court, Senior Advocate Aparajita Singh with advocate Barun Kumar Sinha appeared for the petitioners, who are challenging the caste survey.Senior Advocate Shyam Divan appeared for the Bihar government today.."So much casteism in Bihar in every field": Supreme Court asks Patna High Court to reexamine plea for stay on caste survey