The Calcutta High Court has observed that teachers cannot refuse census duties merely on the ground that they are already assigned teaching responsibilities in schools. Teachers can be engaged for census work, and once assigned the responsibility, they are required to perform it as directed.
High Court Says Teachers Cannot Refuse Census Duty Citing Regular School Responsibilities
The issue arose in West Bengal over the practical difficulties of managing teachers’ regular school duties alongside census responsibilities. Teachers argued that they are required to teach at schools for fixed hours and that census work involves additional time and travel for collecting information from households.
The court was also told that teachers may remain at school from morning to evening and, in some cases, have to travel long distances to reach their workplaces. This could make it difficult to find sufficient time for census fieldwork. However, the court made it clear that administrative or logistical difficulties alone cannot be used as a basis for avoiding a national task such as the census.
The census is the country’s largest administrative exercise related to population data. It involves collecting prescribed information from people and families through household visits and requires a large number of personnel.
Teachers have long been deployed for such government duties because they can reach local communities and have experience collecting information through prescribed forms. Government agencies therefore use the services of teachers and other government employees for census operations.
Once assigned census responsibilities, employees are required to work according to the prescribed training and instructions. The administration is responsible for determining the duty schedule and arrangements for completing the work.
The issue of teachers’ regular school duties was also raised before the court. Teachers have maintained that students’ education should not be affected. If teachers are deployed for extended periods on census work, teaching and student attendance in schools could be affected.
At the same time, the administration is responsible for ensuring that sufficient personnel are available for the census. The High Court’s observation addresses the balance between these responsibilities and indicates that census duty cannot be avoided merely by citing regular teaching responsibilities.
Courts have previously dealt with cases concerning census duties. In April 2026, the Karnataka High Court, while hearing a case, described the census as a national obligation and directed a private school to make its teachers available for census work.
The court also held that practical or logistical difficulties alone could not justify refusing to cooperate with the census.
Teachers assigned to census duties may have to visit different areas and collect information from families. They are allocated specific areas and required to record data according to the prescribed procedure. Accurate collection of information and proper maintenance of records are essential to the process.
For teachers, the central practical challenge remains managing regular school duties alongside census fieldwork. If the schedules overlap, the administration will have to make arrangements that allow both students’ education and the census exercise to continue.
Teachers have said that they do not want to avoid government responsibilities but that a practical division of work is necessary. They have questioned how additional time and travel will be managed if census work has to be performed after their scheduled school hours. Issues concerning safety and transportation may also arise for women teachers and those posted in remote areas.
The administration is required to complete the census within the prescribed timeframe. This involves ensuring sufficient personnel, training staff, allocating areas and maintaining supervision. The participation of teachers may be necessary to complete field surveys on such a large scale.
An important aspect of the dispute is that census duty cannot be treated as an ordinary private task. When an employee is officially assigned such a responsibility, it has to be performed in accordance with the relevant orders and rules. At the same time, the concerned department will have to address issues concerning duty conditions, timing and other administrative difficulties.
Following the High Court’s observation, teachers cannot refuse census duty solely on the ground that they are responsible for teaching in schools. The administration will have to coordinate census responsibilities and school education so that both duties can be carried out.
The High Court has treated the census as an important national task and has not accepted the argument that teachers should be excluded from census responsibilities because of their regular school duties.
