Supreme Court defers Bihar caste survey hearing to August 18

On August 7, the SC had adjourned the hearing to August 14 following a request from the counsel for a petitioner.

On Monday, another counsel for a petitioner told the bench that on the very night of the HC order, the Bihar government had issued a notification to complete the survey within three days. He said that the matter will become infructuous if the hearing is delayed.

Senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi said the state must be asked not to publish details until the SC decides it, but the bench said it will amount to an indirect stay without hearing the other side and without court applying its mind. Justice Khanna said the court will consider all aspects of on August 18, by which time it said the judges will also go through the HC order.

Earlier, on May 4, the HC had stayed the caste survey through an interim order, saying that the state government was not competent to conduct caste survey.

On August 1, the High Court had allowed the Bihar government to go ahead with its caste survey, taking into account its assurance on data protection in the Assembly. The court said that as the survey does not involve any coercion to divulge details — as announced in the Assembly — it does not violate “the rights of privacy of the individual, especially since it is in furtherance of a ‘compelling public interest’ which in effect is ‘legitimate State interest’”.

The HC order came on six petitions challenging the caste survey on the grounds of data protection, competence of state government to carry out the exercise, and the expenditure of more than Rs 500 crore on the survey.