Teachers assigned Census 2027 duty must be relieved by schools and treated as “on duty”, Calcutta HC directs

The petitioners, primarily teachers employed in schools in West Bengal, challenged the Joint Director of School Education’s memorandum dated 3 August 2026, which directed school authorities to ensure that Census work did not affect academic activities and suggested that teachers perform Census duties after class hours or during weekends.

The petitioners contended that the Census house-listing and housing operations were scheduled from 16 August to 14 September 2026, while their school hours, commuting time and Saturday working schedule made performance of Census duties outside school hours impracticable.

Some Census authorities had also scheduled duties during school hours and directed school authorities to treat the relevant period as “On Duty” under Sections 15A and 15B of the Census Act, 1948.

During the proceedings, the State produced a memorandum dated 19 August 2026 withdrawing the impugned memorandum of 3 August 2026 and requesting that teachers deployed for Census duty be utilised without adversely affecting students’ academic interests.

The petitioners nevertheless sought clarification regarding whether teachers were required to perform Census duties during school hours or in addition to their teaching responsibilities.

A show-cause notice issued to one petitioner for non-attendance at Census duty during the pendency of the writ proceedings was also brought to the Court’s attention.

Whether teachers deployed for Census duty could be required to perform such duties during school hours or after class hours in a manner that adversely affected teaching and academic activities.

Whether teachers assigned Census duties were entitled to be relieved from their regular teaching responsibilities for the specified period and treated as being “On Duty” in their parent service.

Whether the withdrawal of the memorandum dated 3 August 2026 sufficiently addressed the petitioners’ grievance and what directions were necessary to reconcile Census obligations with the uninterrupted education of students.

The Court applied Sections 15A and 15B of the Census Act, 1948. Section 15A protects a member of the Census staff from service-related disability and deems the period spent on Census duty to be duty under the lending employer; Section 15B grants protection for acts done in good faith under the Act or its rules.

The Court relied on Election Commission of India v. St. Mary’s School & Ors., (2008) 2 SCC 390, which held that teaching staff should, as far as possible, be assigned electoral duties on holidays, non-teaching days and non-teaching hours, and should not ordinarily be deployed during teaching days and teaching hours.

It also relied on U.P. Madhyamic Shikshak Sangh v. Union of India, 2010 SCC OnLine All 1107, which recognised that teachers may be utilised for Census work of national importance, but directed authorities to schedule such work during vacations, institutional closures or holidays where possible, and, if work on working days was unavoidable, to account for the strength of teachers available so that education was not disrupted.

The governing principle was therefore to balance the national importance of Census work with the State’s obligation to preserve academic activities and students’ education.

The Court found that the original memorandum requiring teachers to perform Census work after class hours or on weekends did not adequately account for the practical difficulties arising from school hours, commuting requirements and the scheduled timing of Census operations.

Although the State had withdrawn the impugned memorandum, the deployment orders did not specify the date, time or place of the Census work, creating uncertainty as to whether teachers would be required to attend Census duty during teaching hours or in addition to their regular duties.

Applying Sections 15A and 15B of the Census Act together with St. Mary’s School and U.P. Madhyamic Shikshak Sangh, the Court held that teachers could not evade duly assigned Census work, since Census operations served an important national purpose; however, the authorities were required to schedule and implement that work so that students’ academic interests were not adversely affected.

The appropriate balance was achieved by requiring Census authorities to communicate specific duty details to the schools and requiring school heads to relieve deployed teachers and make alternative arrangements using available teaching staff.

The Director of Census Operations and the Charge Officers were directed, when requiring teachers to perform Census duty, to specify the date, time and place of duty to the concerned head of institution.

School heads were directed to relieve the teachers when required and make necessary alternative arrangements so that students’ education was not affected.

Teachers deputed for Census duty were to be treated as “On Duty” in accordance with Section 15A of the Census Act, 1948.

At the same time, no teacher was permitted to refuse duly assigned Census work.

The Court accordingly disposed of WPA Nos. 20480, 21277, 21968 and 21969 of 2026.