The Union government on August 28 said only the Centre is entitled to conduct census, in its reply to the Supreme Court on the Bihar government’s caste-based survey.
“Census is a statutory process and is governed by the Census Act, 1948. The subject of census is covered in the Union List under Entry 69 in the Seventh Schedule of the Constitution,” the Office of the Registrar General, Home Ministry, said in a two-page affidavit.
The Centre had filed an affidavit earlier on August 28 morning which said in its penultimate paragraph that “no other body is entitled to conduct the exercise of either census or any action akin to census”. The paragraph was later purged in a revised affidavit. The revision, though just of a paragraph, is significant as the Bihar government has argued that its action is not strictly a census but only a survey done for the welfare of its people.
The affidavit said the Centre is “committed to take all affirmative actions for the upliftment of SCs/STs/SEBCs and OBCs in accordance with the Constitution and the applicable law”.
The Ministry said the affidavit was only meant to state the position in law before the top court.
Earlier, the Supreme Court had refused to stay the uploading of data collected in the recently concluded Bihar caste-based survey while debunking claims that the Nitish Kumar government had violated the fundamental right to privacy by compelling people to reveal their caste.
Cumulative figures
“How is the right to privacy affected when somebody is asked to give his caste or sub-caste? That individual data are not released to the public… What is released is the cumulative figures,” Justice Sanjiv Khanna had observed.
A battery of lawyers, including senior advocates Kapil Sibal, C.S. Vaidyanathan, Aparajita Singh, Barun Kumar Sinha, advocate Tanya Shree are appearing for the petitioners. Solicitor General Tushar Mehta is appearing for the Centre, and senior advocate Shyam Divan for the Bihar government.
Mr. Divan had argued that the petitions against the survey were “completely motivated”. He said the survey was completed on August 6.
“This is a social survey. The information got from the exercise would be analysed,” Mr. Divan had said.
He said the State’s welfare measures would be tailored on the basis of the data collected from the survey. He assured the court that individual data would be protected.
The Patna High Court, on August 1, had upheld the legality of the survey.
The petitioners have argued that Bihar had no authority to conduct such a survey, which was an attempt to usurp the powers of the Centre.
They contended the survey had violated Schedule VII of the Constitution, the Census Act, 1948 and the Census Rules, 1990. The petitions highlighted that census was enumerated at Entry 69 in the Union List in the Seventh Schedule of the Constitution. The pleas argued that the survey notification in June 2022 was ultra vires the Section 3, 4, and 4A of the Census Act, 1948 as well as Rules 3, 4 and 6A of the Census Rules, 1990.
