The Supreme Court on Friday declined to stay further publication of data related to the Bihar caste survey, but said it would examine the state’s power to conduct such an exercise.

A bench of Justices Sanjiv Khanna and S.V.N. Bhatti posted the matter for further hearing in January 2024.

The caste census data released by the Bihar government on October 3, the first such exercise by any state, has triggered a political battle between the Opposition and the BJP.

The bench was dealing with separate appeals filed by the NGO Ek Soch Ek Prayas and another organisation challenging the August 1 judgment of Patna High Court upholding the state’s decision to conduct a caste census.

The Centre had earlier filed an affidavit asserting that only the Union government had the power to conduct a census in terms of Section 3 of the Census Act.

When the matter came up for hearing on Friday, senior advocate Aprajita Singh, appearing for one of the NGOs, sought a restraint on the implementation of the census report as the apex court was already seized of the issue.

Singh also submitted that the release of data was a violation of the nine-judge bench ruling in the Justice K.S. Puttaswamy case (Aadhaar card row) wherein it was held that a citizen has a fundamental right to privacy.

Justice Khanna, heading the bench, brushed aside the argument and said: “We are not pausing anything at the moment. We cannot stop the state government or for that matter any other government from taking a policy decision. That would not be proper.”

Justice Khanna, however, said the court would examine the power of a state to conduct such an exercise. “But we are going to examine the other issue regarding the power of the state government to conduct this exercise. The more significant issue for the court’s consideration is the breakdown of the data and the availability to the public.”

The bench briefly questioned senior advocate Shyam Divan, appearing for the Bihar government, on why the state administration released the data in the public domain when the matter was under the court’s scrutiny.

Divan pointed out that the matter was yet to reach the admission stage and there was no embargo on the release of the data.

“This matter will require consideration. It's going to take some time for us,” the bench said.

Justice Khanna disagreed with Singh's argument that the release of the data involved a breach of citizen’s privacy.

“We will look into all issues… privacy may not be a concern since names and identities had not been disclosed,” the bench observed while adjourning the matter to January 2024.

On January 20, another bench of Justices B.R. Gavai and Vikram Nath had dismissed as “publicity interest litigation” two PILs challenging the constitutional validity of the caste-based census conducted by the Bihar government.