'Cannot stop govt from taking decision': SC refuses to restrain Bihar govt from acting on caste-survey data

The Supreme Court of India has declined to restrain the Bihar government from further publishing data from its caste survey in the state. The court stated that it would not issue a stay order at this point and emphasized that it could not prevent any government from making decisions in this regard, as it would be inappropriate.

However, the court indicated that it would consider any issues related to the data from the caste-based survey. The state government has been given four weeks to file a response, and the hearing has been adjourned until January 2024.

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Justice Sanjiv Khanna, while making the decision, emphasized that the court could not prevent state governments or any government from taking such actions. He also mentioned that they would examine other issues related to the power of the state government to conduct this survey.

The Bihar government, under Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, recently released the findings of its caste survey, revealing that Other Backward Classes (OBCs) and Extremely Backward Classes (EBCs) make up a significant 63 percent of the state's total population.

The survey also provided details on the population percentages of various caste groups in the state, with Yadavs being the largest group at 14.27 percent. Scheduled Castes accounted for 19.65 percent of the total population, and Scheduled Tribes constituted 1.68 percent.

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