Caste-based survey in Bihar hits a snag, Patna High Court issues interim stay

Patna: The caste-based survey being conducted by the Bihar government is now facing an obstacle after the Patna High Court on Thursday issued an interim stay. The state government has been asked to preserve the data related to the census and not distribute it to anyone.

The court put the stay on the survey after hearing a writ petition. Abhinav Srivastava, the lawyer of the petitioner, argued that the Bihar government does not have any right to conduct the caste-based survey because it is neither a legislative competence nor an executive order to sustain under Article 162 of the Constitution. The plea also said that the survey is actually a census and only the Union government has the power to carry it out.

A division bench of Chief Justice Vinod Chandran and Justice Madhuresh Kumar said that it is of the considered opinion that the petitioners have made out a prima facie case against the continuous process of the proposed caste-based survey as attempted by the state of Bihar. "There is a question raised on data integrity and security which has to be more elaborately addressed by the state."

"We also have the opinion that the state has no power to carry out caste-based surveys in the manner it is fashioned now. It would amount to a census thus impinging upon the legislative power of the Parliament. We also see the notification that the government intends to share data with the leaders of different political parties of the state Assembly. The bigger question that arises here is the right of privacy which the Supreme Court has held to be a facet of the right to life," added the bench.

"In such circumstances, we have directed the state government to immediately stop the caste-based survey and ensure that the data already collected are secured and not to share with anybody till final orders on this writ petition," said the order.

The matter has been listed on July 3 for the next hearing.