The The Allahabad High Court found the impugned directive prima facie bad in law. It also rejected the stance of the state and the union governments that census operations are of national importance and hence no interim order be passed on the plea.
Prayagraj (UP): The Allahabad High Court has stayed an order of the Kanpur Nagar Nigam by which employees of the Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) were requisitioned for census duty.
Earlier, a single judge of the court had refused to interfere with the order of the Kanpur Nagar Nigam.
Differing with the single judge’s view, a division bench of justices Salil Kumar Rai and Swarupama Chaturvedi noted that while the Uttar Pradesh government may call upon corporate staff to assist in census operations, such requisition “can only be for the purpose of census operations within the premises of such establishment and not outside the premises,” according to Section 7(c) of the Census Act, 1948.
The bench found the impugned directive prima facie bad in law. It also rejected the stance of the state and the union governments that census operations are of national importance and hence no interim order be passed on the plea.
Directing to list the case for final hearing on July 6, the court stayed the operation of the order dated May 5 passed by the zonal officer of zone – 1 of the Nagar Nigam till then.
“The claim of the counsel representing the state government as well as the Union of India that as the census operations are of national importance, therefore, no interim order be passed is not acceptable,”the bench said.
“The legality of an order of any state authority is not dependent merely on the purpose of the order but also on whether the order complies with the statutory requirements. We have already noted that, we prima facie find the order bad in law,” the bench observed.
Earlier, the single judge has dismissed the writ petition on the ground that the petitioner had not specifically challenged the order by which the employees of the LIC were requisitioned for census duty.
The bench hearing the matter observed, “The Zonal Manager, Kanpur Nagar Nigam had no jurisdiction to requisition the employees of the LIC under Section 4 of the Census Act, 1948 as requisitioned by his order dated May 5, 2026.”