Patna, Jul 6 (IANS): While the hearing on the caste-based survey is undergoing in the Patna high court, the Solicitor General, P.K. Shahi and Additional Solicitor General Anjani Kumar informed the court that "it comes under the right of the state government".

Shahi and Kumar on behalf of the Bihar government said the objective of caste-based survey is to obtain the actual data of people living in and outside the state so that the welfare scheme can be launched for them.

"The 80 per cent work of caste-based census is already completed. It has not violated the privacy of any person. The information of castes are already available in public domain thanks to various examinations and filling various forms. The candidates have mentioned the caste-based survey," said the government.

The caste-based survey was stopped by the Patna High Court on July 4, and asked the authority to preserve the data collected so far.

The court had given the next date of hearing on July 3. Since July 3, the hearing of this case is underway before the double bench of Chief Justice K. Vinod Chandran and Justice Partha Sarthi in the Patna high court.

The caste-based survey was started on January 7 and was scheduled to complete on May 15. The Patna High Court had stopped the survey on May 4.