'We Can't Stop Govt From Taking A Decision' : Supreme Court Refuses To Restrain Bihar Govt From Acting On Caste-Survey Data

The Supreme Court on Friday adjourned the hearing of a batch of pleas challenging the constitutionality of the caste-based survey conducted by the Bihar government till January 2024. Notably, the court refused to pass any order of stay or status quo to restrain the State from acting on the caste survey data."We cannot stop state government or any government from taking a decision," a bench of Justices Sanjiv Khanna and SVN Bhatti orally observed today. This division bench is currently hearing a plea by non-governmental organisations Youth for Equality and Ek Soch Ek Prayas against the decision of the Patna High Court delivered on August 2 to uphold the Bihar government's decision to undertake caste-based survey.During the hearing today, Senior Advocate Aparajitha Singh took exception to the state government publishing the caste-survey data earlier this week, even while the matter was sub-judice. "They have preempted the court. We were arguing stay...", she submitted. Singh argued that the state's decision to seek caste details was contrary to the Supreme Court's judgment in KS Puttaswamy, which recognised the right to privacy as a facet of the fundamental right to life under Article 21 of the Constitution, as the Bihar government had not shown any 'legitimate purpose' for the survey. She requested the court to pass an interim order of status quo asking the State to not act upon the survey data."This data may not be acted upon because it was collected unlawfully", Singh urged.At this point, Justice Khanna asked the State, "Why did you publish this, Mr Divan?"Senior Advocate Shyam Divan, appearing for the Bihar government, argued that the court had not passed any order against the publication of the data. "This court indicated that first and foremost it will decide whether notice is to be issued," he said.Observing that the matter requires to be heard at length, the bench adjourned the hearing until January next year, while issuing formal notice to the state government on the clutch of petitions. Once again, Singh expressed her concerns that by the next date of the hearing, the Bihar government will have published the data and urged the court to issue a status quo order. "This data has been collected unlawfully and cannot be acted upon," the senior counsel emphatically argued. The bench, however, appeared to disagree with her contention. Justice Khanna told her, "Prima facie, you'll be on some difficulty with respect to that. We have read the judgment and formed a prima facie view, which is of course, subject to change." At the outset of the hearing, the judge had also remarked that the high court's judgment was 'fairly detailed'. Categorically declining Singh's request for a status quo order yet again, Justice Khanna said -"We cannot stop the state government or any government from taking a decision. That would be wrong. But, if there is an issue with regard to data, that will be considered. We are going to examine the other issue regarding the power of the state government to conduct this exercise. We will look into 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 parts, we will examine."One of the main issues that will be considered by the apex court while hearing the challenge against the government's caste survey will pertain to the breakdown of the data, Justice Khanna explained. "One of the issues, Mr Divan, will be with regard to the breakdown of the data and whether we should at all touch upon it. If we uphold everything, whether it should be left to...Because data has already been collected."At the end of the hearing, Singh asked, "Has the state government made an assurance that they will not publish the data?"Justice Khanna sternly clarified that no such assurance had been made on either side. What has happened so far?The Supreme Court has refused to temporarily halt the survey, which has now been completed, without first hearing the parties. It has, on multiple occasions, reiterated its stance against issuing any stay order in the absence of a prima facie case. In August, Senior Advocate CS Vaidyanathan led the charge for the litigants challenging the caste survey. Appearing on behalf of NGO Youth for Equality, the senior counsel argued that the 2017 Puttaswamy ruling on the fundamental right to privacy necessitated a just, fair, and reasonable law to infringe on privacy. Such a law must additionally stand the test of proportionality and have a legitimate aim. An executive order of the government could, therefore, not take the place of such a law, even more so when it did not indicate at all the reasons for undertaking this exercise. Apart from this, Vaidyanathan also raised privacy concerns over the mandatory disclosure requirement under the survey. In response, the bench questioned if the right to privacy under Article 21 of the Constitution would be impacted, given the government’s plan to...

'We Can't Stop Govt From Taking A Decision' : Supreme Court Refuses To Restrain Bihar Govt From Acting On Caste-Survey Data

Awstika Das

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