The Bihar government was asked to refrain from making future choices based on its caste survey of the state, but the Supreme Court rejected the request, stating that it would be improper to stop a government from making a policy decision.
A bench of Justices Sanjiv Khanna and SVN Bhatti said the Patna HC verdict, upholding the state’s decision to hold a caste survey, was very detailed and a challenge to it had to be heard in detail. As the petitioners made a fervent plea to direct the state to maintain status quo, the bench said it wouldn't be right to pass such an order as data was very important because policy decisions were taken on the basis of data. “We can’t stop the state government. Preventing the government from taking decisions on policy would be wrong,” the bench said.
Senior advocate Aprajita Singh, appearing for one of the petitioners, said it was very unfair on the part of the state government to disclose the caste data when the matter was pending before the apex court. She said the state had pre-empted the court proceedings and urged the bench to restrain the state from taking any further action on the basis of the survey.
The state government opposed her request, and its lawyer, advocate Shyam Divan, argued that neither a stay order nor a notice to the state had been given regarding the group of appeals against the HC order. A caste survey was being conducted, according to Aprajita, in violation of various laws, including peoples' rights to privacy. She also maintained that the HC judgement was incorrect on numerous other points.