More CBSE school teachers secure interim relief from Census duty

Nagpur: More CBSE school teachers secured interim relief from Census duty on Wednesday as they approached the Nagpur bench of Bombay high court through the CBSE School Staff Welfare Association (CSSWA) — the body that got a stay for its members two days earlier. With the court set to shift to a vacation bench soon, the association scrambled to organise a walk-in meeting on Wednesday evening itself, asking teachers to get listed on the vakalatnama of its forthcoming petition. CSSWA president Deepali Dably confirmed the latest development and spelled out the scope of the relief already in place. "The hon'ble high court has put a stay on the appointment orders for Census duty of the petitioners. The court has also granted stay on the communication of training and communication by which threat of penal action was given to the teachers. Teachers can resume with their regular school duties," Dably said. To ensure that more teachers can avail themselves of the benefit, the association called teachers to the office of their legal counsel, Purushottam Patil, on Wednesday to get them on board. Dably said the response from teachers has been overwhelming. "I heard many teachers were wondering how to approach the court, where to start. Hence we as an association simply told them to join us and we will do all the paperwork. All they had to do was provide us with photocopies of their Census duty letters, an Aadhaar card copy, and a passport-size photograph to be listed on the fresh petition," she said. The development follows a series of court interventions since last month, after authorities started issuing letters to staff from schools and colleges, asking them to report for Census duty. The Sikh Education Society first approached the high court after staff from its pharmacy college were assigned Census duty, and secured interim relief in early April. On Monday, CSSWA secured a stay covering its own members — the order that triggered Wednesday's rush. The court's Monday order noted prima facie that teachers from aided and unaided schools cannot be assigned census or election duties, and directed that no pressure or punitive action be taken against concerned staff until further orders. The petitions before the court have challenged a March 23 directive issued by municipal authorities assigning census duties to school staff, arguing that CBSE school employees do not fall within the ambit of the Census Act and that compelling them amounts to a violation of Articles 14 and 21 of the Constitution.