The Supreme Court bench has notably refrained from issuing any stay or status quo orders, preferring to fully hear the parties involved before taking any action on the survey data.
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In a pivotal development, the Supreme Court of India, on January 2, 2024, delved into the contentious issue of the Bihar government’s caste-based survey. This examination occurred during the hearing of a series of public interest litigation (PIL) petitions that question the constitutional validity of the survey. The bench, comprising Justices Sanjiv Khanna and Dipankar Dutta, is currently overseeing special leave petitions filed by NGOs such as Youth for Equality and Ek Soch Ek Prayas, among others. These petitions are in response to a ruling by the Patna High Court on August 2, which endorsed the Bihar government’s decision to conduct this caste-based survey.
The Supreme Court bench has notably refrained from issuing any stay or status quo orders, preferring to fully hear the parties involved before taking any action on the survey data. The bench emphasized the need to scrutinize the correctness of the high court’s judgment. In this context, the published survey report was requested to be submitted for examination.
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Senior Advocate Raju Ramachandran, representing the petitioners, pressed for an urgent hearing on their plea for interim relief, citing the ongoing implementation of the survey report and the consequent increase in reservations. However, Justice Khanna, acknowledging certain limitations, declined this request for an expedited hearing.
A significant concern raised during the hearing was the public accessibility of the survey’s detailed data. Justice Khanna pointed out the issues arising from the non-disclosure of such data, questioning the extent to which the government could legitimately withhold this information. Senior Advocate Shyam Divan, representing the Bihar government, asserted that the survey was publicly accessible. Justice Khanna responded by emphasizing the importance of making the data’s breakdown available for public scrutiny and challenge.
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The hearing also touched upon the nature of the survey, with Solicitor General Tushar Mehta clarifying that it did not constitute a census as understood under the Indian Constitution. This led to a brief exchange where Senior Advocate Gopal Sankaranarayanan, also representing a petitioner, labeled the state government’s action as illegal. Acknowledging this point, Justice Khanna adjourned the hearing, scheduling it to resume in the week commencing January 29, 2024.
The backdrop of this legal scrutiny is the Supreme Court’s consistent stance against halting the survey without a prima facie case. The court has been considering various facets of this issue, including privacy concerns raised in the context of the 2017 Puttaswamy ruling and the government’s plan to release only aggregated data.
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The central government, too, has been involved, with the Solicitor-General seeking to submit an affidavit outlining its stance on the legal aspects of such a survey. The Centre has submitted two affidavits, the latest retracting a previous statement about the exclusive right of the central government to conduct a census.
The Bihar government, meanwhile, has published the survey data, revealing significant demographic details about various social groups in the state. This data has already led to policy actions, such as the announcement of a 10 percent reservation for economically weaker sections in the state’s judicial services and educational institutions.
Additionally, the Supreme Court has dealt with a related petition concerning the inclusion of non-binary gender identities in the caste survey. This petition was withdrawn following a clarification from the Bihar government.
This ongoing legal discourse scrutinizes the Bihar government’s decision to conduct a caste-based survey, initiated in January of this year, to digitally compile family-level data across the state. The Patna High Court has previously upheld this survey as valid, dismissing challenges to its legality. The Supreme Court’s deliberations, therefore, hold significant implications for the understanding and implementation of caste-based data collection and its subsequent use in policy-making in India.