Staff of pvt educational institutions not liable for tasks under Census Act: HC

Prayagraj: Observing that the employees of aided and unaided private teaching institutions cannot be made liable for any task under the Census Act, 1948, the Allahabad high court has stayed the order of the district inspector of school (DIOS), Gautam Budh Nagar, by which he had sought the list of all teaching and non-teaching staff working in all aided and unaided institutions for census.Hearing a writ petition filed by Independent Self-Financed Schools Association, Justice Siddharth Nandan, in the order dated May 21, directed the state govt to file a reply within four weeks.Passing the directives, the court observed, “This court prima facie finds that the teaching and non-teaching staff of private institutions, whether aided or unaided, cannot be said to fall within the purview of local authorities, where the basic shiksha adhikari (BSA), DIOS and the DPRO alone are required to provide their staff, as also contemplated in the letter dated April 1, 2026.”“In view of the list forwarded by the BSA to the charge officer pursuant to his letter dated April 8, 2026, the employees of aided and unaided institutions cannot be made liable for any task under the Census Act, 1948”, the court said.According to the petitioner, the staff of educational institutions was not covered under ‘local authority’ under the Section 4A of the Census Act, 1948, which provides that every local authority which has been so directed must provide staff for census duty.The petitioner argued that private institutions would not fall under the ambit of ‘local authority’, as they were neither controlled by the govt nor were its subsidiaries.