'We Can't Stop Govt From Taking A Decision': SC Refuses To Stop Bihar Caste Census

The Supreme Court on Friday refused to pass an order restraining Nitish Kumar's Bihar government from acting on the caste survey report and listed the matter for January 2024.

A bench of Justices Sanjiv Khanna and SVN Bhatti orally said as per Live Law: "We cannot stop state govt or any govt from taking a decision. That would be wrong. But, if there's an issue with regards to data, that will be considered. We are going to examine the other issue regarding the power of the state govt to conduct this exercise." Justice Khanna said.

The apex court was hearing a petition filed by the non-governmental organizations Youth for Equality and Ek Soch Ek Prayas regarding the verdict of the Patna High Court, announced on August 2, which upheld the Bihar government's decision to conduct a survey based on caste.

On Monday, the Nitish Kumar government released findings of its much-awaited caste survey months ahead of the 2024 Parliamentary elections, which revealed that OBCs and EBCs constitute a whopping 63 per cent of the state's total population, according to a report in PTI.

The data which could spur demands for similar caste-based census elsewhere is a key agenda of the opposition INDIA bloc which may well help Kumar and the alliance in the forthcoming elections in the Hindi heartland where caste politics plays a major part.

According to the data released by Development Commissioner Vivek Singh, the state's total population stood at a little over 13.07 crore, out of which the Extremely Backward Classes (36 per cent) were the largest social segment followed by the Other Backward Classes at 27.13 per cent.