"Data Available To Public Issue Of Consideration": Supreme Court Denies To Halt Release Of Bihar Caste Census Details

The Supreme Court on Friday (6 October) declined to halt the Bihar government's release of caste census details, asserting its reluctance to interfere in the state's policy decisions.

A bench comprising Justices Sanjiv Khanna and SVN Bhatti issued a formal notice in response to petitions challenging the Patna High Court's 1 August order approving the caste survey in Bihar.

The court scheduled a hearing for January 2024 and requested a response from the Bihar government within four weeks, India Today reported.

Despite objections from the petitioners that the caste census data was not collected in line with Supreme Court orders and lacked a legitimate purpose, the court rejected calls to prevent further publication.

The bench emphasised its commitment to examining the state government's authority to conduct the exercise and clarified that, at present, it would not impose any pause on the process.

Senior advocate Aprajita Singh, representing the petitioners, argued a breach of privacy and criticised the high court's decision.

However, the bench countered that since individual names and identities had not been disclosed, the privacy argument might not be valid. The court deemed the breakdown of data and its accessibility to the public as a more critical consideration.

On 2 October, the Nitish Kumar government in Bihar unveiled the findings of the caste census. The data disclosed that Other Backward Classes (OBCs) and Extremely Backward Classes (EBCs) constituted a significant 63 per cent of the state's total population.