Decide teacher’s plea for census duty exemption on med grounds: HC to NMC

By: Soumya Dubey

Nagpur: The Nagpur bench of Bombay High Court recently directed the Nagpur Municipal Corporation (NMC) to take a formal decision on a schoolteacher's plea seeking exemption from census duties on medical grounds. The court also issued notices to the central govt and other respondents in the matter.

Justice Rajnish Vyas, hearing a writ petition filed by Lalita Satpute through counsel Vishal Anand, ordered the assistant commissioner of NMC's Gandhibagh zone to decide her representations submitted on April 9 and April 23.

Satpute, 55, an assistant teacher at Nityanand Vidyalaya and Junior College since August 1991, approached the court challenging directions assigning her duties as supervisor and enumerator for the census operations.

The petitioner sought quashing of the civic body's directive and requested interim protection from participating in the exercise, citing serious medical concerns linked to recent eye surgeries.

Satpute underwent retina surgery in Feb 2025 and later underwent cataract surgery in her left eye in January this year. She informed the court that doctors advised her to take strict precautions during recovery.

The court was told that the assistant commissioner issued initial communication regarding census-related training and deployment to the school principal on April 2. A subsequent direction was directly issued to Satpute on April 22.

Before moving HC, Satpute submitted formal representations to the civic authorities requesting cancellation of her census assignment in light of her medical condition. The civic administration allegedly failed to take any decision on those requests, prompting the writ petition.