Supreme Court refuses to stay Bihar caste survey publication

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Friday refused to issue interim stay on publication of data of the caste-based survey carried out in Bihar and questioned the petitioners' argument that it is against the right to privacy.

A top court bench made it clear that it will not issue any interim stay on the publication of the survey unless a prima facie case is made out.

The court was informed the survey was completed by the Bihar government on August 6. The bench said the thought process gone into carrying out the survey must be recorded on the file.


Speaking for the bench, Justice Sanjiv Khanna questioned the petitioners as to how "the right to privacy is affected if the data of one's caste is not revealed (to the public)". He also verbally remarked one's caste is known to one's neighbours in Bihar.

But the bench highlighted that while the survey is gathering individual data as well, only cumulative data will be published. Individual data will not be revealed to the public, it said.

Justice Khanna also remarked that the survey is "not a quasi-judicial order...(but) something of an administrative decision".

The petitions will come up for resumed hearing on Monday.

On August 1, the Patna High Court had found no illegality in the state's decision to undertake the caste survey. It said the state's decision was perfectly valid and initiated with due competence and a legitimate aim of providing development with justice.

A division bench of the High Court had held that the actual survey does not contemplate any coercion to divulge details and that the action passes the test of proportionality. It ruled that the survey does not violate an individual's right to privacy since it is in furtherance of a compelling public interest and a legitimate state interest.

The survey was carried out in two phases. In the first phase, a household counting exercise was conducted in January this year.

The second phase, which commenced on April 15, focuses 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 bench of the Patna High Court had stayed the survey, describing it as a census.

The survey resumed in August after the division bench lifted the stay. Following this, appeals were filed in the Supreme Court.