Census duty: govt’s powers and private citizens’ rights

Why in the News

The Census Rules, 1990 now expressly name private school teachers and staff of banks, companies, societies and trusts as possible census enumerators, where the old rule said only “Teachers, Clerks or any official or any person”. The Centre amended the Rules this month, eight days after the Punjab and Haryana High Court stayed Haryana’s requests for private teachers’ details. The open question is whether a rule can compel private citizens when the Census Act, 1948 may not.

What does the amendment change, and why now?

1. What an enumerator does: An enumerator goes from house to house counting people for the Census. The State assigns the job, much like polling staff are drafted for an election.
2. New categories named: Teachers of government, local authority, aided and unaided private institutions, and officials of banks, companies, institutions, societies and trusts, may now be appointed.
3. “Any person” retained: The rules still cover “any person” a State or Union Territory administration finds suitable, so the change is largely one of wording.
4. Stated purpose: The Ministry of Home Affairs says the change removes ambiguity, so a Census needing around 31 lakh enumerators and supervisors runs smoothly. Most are teachers and government staff.
5. The takeaway: Rewording answers the court setbacks on paper, but rules cannot widen what the parent Act permits.

What did the High Courts hold?

1. Bombay High Court, interim protection: In May, it shielded staff of more than 500 private unaided and minority schools in Maharashtra from compulsory Census duty.
2. Local authorities only: The Court read Section 4A as obliging only local authorities to lend staff when the Centre directs. At first sight, Sections 6 and 7 give no power to draft private school staff.
3. “Any person” read narrowly: An unlimited reading could reach doctors, advocates and chartered accountants, so the Court rejected it at the interim stage.
4. Limit on delegated rules: Subordinate legislation (rules the executive makes under an Act) cannot travel beyond its parent statute.

What does the Census Act actually allow?

1. Section 4(2), the strongest basis: The State government may appoint “persons” as census officers, and those appointed “shall be bound to serve accordingly”. The word is not limited to officials.
2. Section 7, limited to the premises: The District Magistrate can call on an establishment’s staff to count persons on its premises, not to deploy them as door to door enumerators.
3. Insurer staff cases: High Courts in Punjab and Haryana (2010) and Gujarat (2019) barred requisitioning Life Insurance Corporation staff under Section 7. The Gujarat ruling is before the Supreme Court.
4. Earlier compromise: For Census 2011, the Bombay High Court let private school teachers be deployed, normally outside school hours and exempting teachers of board examination classes.

Does the Constitution allow compulsory public service?

1. Article 23: It prohibits begar (forced unpaid labour) but lets the State impose “compulsory service for public purposes” without discrimination on specified grounds.
2. Special police officers: The Police Act, 1861 lets residents be made special police officers. The Calcutta High Court in Dulal Samanta v. District Magistrate, Howrah (1958) treated this as protected public service.
3. National Service Act, 1972: Parliament built a full regime to call up doctors and engineers. It covers liability, notice, postponement for hardship, pay, and employers’ duty to release and reinstate them.
4. Missing safeguards: The Census Act has no such regime, so constitutional permission alone gives Census authorities no power to compel.

Challenges

1. Rules outrunning the Act: An amended rule cannot supply a power the parent Act may lack, inviting fresh litigation.
2. Unsettled precedent: Requisition powers stay uncertain until the Supreme Court rules on Section 7.
3. Lost teaching time: Deploying teachers during school hours disrupts academic work.

Way Forward

1. Amend the Census Act: Parliament should define who is liable for Census duty, with notice, postponement and pay.
2. Duty outside school hours: States should deploy private teachers outside school hours, as in 2011.
3. Settle the appeal: The Supreme Court should decide the Section 7 appeal, giving States one clear rule.

Conclusion

The amendment rewords the Census Rules but leaves open whether the Census Act lets the State draft private citizens at all. Whether Parliament writes safeguards into the Act, or courts strike the rules down, will decide how the coming Census is staffed.

Back2Basics: Census of India

1. Census 2027: It will be the 16th Census of India and the 8th since Independence.
2. First digital Census: Enumeration will use a mobile app, and citizens can count themselves through a Census portal for the first time.

Matching Previous Year Question

“No direct PYQ traced in the provided files. Thematic PYQ: [2009] Consider the following statements : 1. Between Census 1951 and Census 2001, the density of the population of India has increased more than three times. 2. Between Census 1951 and Census 2001, the annual growth rate (exponential) of the population of India has doubled. Which of the statements given abova is/are correct ? (a) 1 only (b) 2 only (c) Both 1 and 2 (d) Neither 1 nor 2 ANSWER: (d)”