SC questions Bihar govt on publishing caste survey numbers, but no bar on releasing further data
New Delhi (PTI): The Supreme Court Friday questioned the Bihar government as to why it published its caste survey data but refused to restrain it from making public further data, and said it may examine if the state has power to conduct such an exercise.
A bench of Justices Sanjiv Khanna and S V N Bhatti issued a formal notice on a batch of pleas challenging the August 1 order of the Patna High Court that gave the go-ahead for the caste survey in Bihar.
The SC bench listed the matter in January, 2024.
It rejected the petitioners' contention that the state government has already published some data preempting a stay. They sought a complete stay on further publication of data.
"We are not staying anything at this moment. We cannot stop the state government or any government from taking a policy decision. That would be wrong…We are going to examine the other issue regarding the power of the state government to conduct this exercise," the bench said.
The top court, however, questioned the counsel for the Bihar government, "Why did you publish the data?" It said it may examine whether the state has the power to conduct such a survey.
Appearing for the petitioners, Senior advocate Aprajita Singh said there is breach of privacy in the matter and the High Court order is wrong. "This data should not be acted upon as it was collected illegally. The High Court has given a detailed judgement. But it is wrong on every point of law. The data has not been collected under law as laid down by this court. Even the executive order is not in conformity with the law laid down in the K S Puttaswamy judgement (2018 verdict on right to privacy)," Singh said.
To this, the bench said since the name and other identities of any individual have not been published, the argument that there was a breach of privacy may not be correct. "The more important issue for consideration of the court is breakdown of data and its availability to the public," the bench said, adding there are various aspects of the data but the state government has not released that.
Justice Khanna said they have gone through the high court verdict and have formed a prima facie view which is subject to change.
Singh said that during the last hearing, the state government assured the bench that they will not publish the data. She said they will further publish the data by the next date of hearing in January if no restrained by the court, and the petitioners will be in the same position.
Justice Khanna said the state had not assured anything in the last hearing.
Senior advocate Shyam Divan, appearing for the state government, replied to the question of the bench on why they published the data and said there was no stay on publication of data, which was required for formulating welfare schemes.
He said there is a judgement of this court which allows collection of data.
On October 2, the Nitish Kumar government in Bihar released findings of its caste survey, months ahead of the 2024 Parliamentary elections. The data revealed that OBCs and EBCs constitute a whopping 63 per cent of the state's total population.
According to the data released, 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.
The survey also stated that Yadavs, the OBC group to which Deputy Chief Minister Tejashwi Yadav belongs, were the largest caste in terms of the population, accounting for 14.27 per cent of the total.
Dalits, also known as the Scheduled Castes, accounted for 19.65 per cent of the total population in the state, which is also home to nearly 22 lakh (1.68 per cent) people belonging to the Scheduled Tribes.
On August 7, the top court had refused to stay the Patna High Court's order giving the go-ahead for the caste survey, and deferred the hearing on petitions challenging it to August 14.
Besides a plea by NGO 'Ek Soch Ek Paryas', several other petitions have been filed including one by a Nalanda-resident, Akhilesh Kumar, who has contended that the notification issued by the state government for the exercise is against the constitutional mandate.
Kumar's petition says that according to the the constitutional mandate only the Union government is empowered to conduct a census.
The high court had said in its 101-page verdict, "We find the action of the state to be perfectly valid, initiated with due competence with the legitimate aim of providing development with justice." A day after the high court held the caste survey as "valid", the state government had swung into action and suspended all ongoing training programmes for teachers so they can be engaged for early completion of the exercise.
The Nitish Kumar government had said on August 25 that the survey has been completed and data will be made public soon.
Petitioners had opposed making the data public, contending it will infringe people's right to privacy.
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Real Madrid fines Valverde and Tchouaméni half a million euros each for altercation
Barcelona (AP): Real Madrid slapped players Federico Valverde and Aurélien Tchouaméni with half-a-million-euro ($588,000) fines on Friday for their altercation during practice.
The massive fines came a day after the midfielders tussled when the team trained. Valverde said in a post on social media on Thursday that no punches were thrown. But Valverde knocked his head on a table and he suffered a small cut that required a brief hospital visit.
On social media, Valverde initially called it a “meaningless fight” with a teammate and said “everything has been blown out of proportion."
His employers, however, considered it a significant enough breach of team discipline to nail both Valverde and Tchouaméni with fines that bite even the bank account of a top soccer player. The half-a-million euro penalties reflect the reputational damage the club was enduring in a chaotic end to a disappointing season.
In a statement, the 15-time European champion said its disciplinary action was concluded after both players expressed to the club “their complete remorse for what happened and apologized to one another.”
Madrid added they also apologized to their teammates, the coaching staff and club supporters, as well as showing their willingness to accept whatever disciplinary action the club deemed “opportune.”
Tchouaméni was back training with Madrid on Friday, two days before they play at Barcelona in a clasico. Madrid has to win otherwise Barcelona will be crowned La Liga champion.
After being notified of the fine, he posted a public apology to the club and its fans on social media.
“What happened this week in training is unacceptable,” Tchouaméni wrote. "I say this while thinking about the example we are expected to set for young people, whether in football or at school.
“Above all, I am sorry for the image we projected of the club.”
Valverde was not at practice due to the head knock.
Both players are set to play in the World Cup next month, with Tchouaméni playing for France and Valverde for Uruguay.
Chaotic end to a poor season
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The run-in between the players, who for seasons have played side by side in Madrid's midfield, came after they argued this week in previous training sessions. But tempers boiled over on Thursday. Spanish media was rife with reports that the players previously disagreed over the club's decision to let coach Xabi Alonso go after just months on the job.
It was not the only altercation involving Madrid players during training this week. Álvaro Carreras confirmed he was in a “minor” incident with a teammate. Spanish media said he and fellow defender Antonio Rüdiger got into a scuffle.
Álvaro Arbeloa, the coach who was promoted from Madrid's reserve team when Alonso was fired in January, will face tough questions on what went wrong inside the changing room when he gives a press conference on Saturday ahead of the clasico at Camp Nou.
Madrid is facing a second consecutive campaign without a major trophy amid rumors in the Spanish media that club president Florentino Pérez is considering bringing back Jose Mourinho to straighten out his underperforming team.
