West Bengal withdraws teachers census duty order after court scrutiny

The West Bengal government has withdrawn its order requiring school teachers assigned to Census 2027 duties to work after school hours, on weekends and holidays. The withdrawal followed strong observations by Calcutta High Court Justice Krishna Rao, who questioned how teachers could manage regular classroom responsibilities alongside door-to-door census enumeration. The court had pointed to a conflict between the census authority's prescribed working hours of 9 am to 4 pm and the state's plan to have teachers do the work after school.

On Friday, Justice Krishna Rao disposed of the petitions and ruled that teachers deputed for census work will be deemed to be on school duty under Section 15A of the Census Act. The court directed that census authorities must specify the date, time and place of work to the head of the institution, who must allow the teacher to go and make alternative arrangements so students are not affected. The court also clarified that a teacher assigned census work cannot refuse the assignment.

The immediate dispute over after-hours work has been addressed by the state's withdrawal of the August 3 notification. However, the broader petitions challenging the deployment of teachers for census enumeration remain under consideration by the Calcutta High Court. The issue had sparked concerns among teachers over additional workload and commuting requirements, with some arguing census work should be treated as official on-duty time.