New Delhi: The Centre has amended the Census Rules, 1990, to allow teachers from aided and unaided private educational institutions to be appointed as enumerators for Census 2027, widening the pool of personnel available for the nationwide exercise amid an ongoing legal challenge over the deployment of private school staff.
The amendment was notified in the Gazette on Friday by Registrar General of India Mrityunjay Kumar Narayan. It specifies the categories of teachers, clerks, officials and other individuals who can be appointed as census officers by state governments and Union territory administrations.
The move comes as the Haryana Progressive Schools Conference challenges the requisition of teachers from private unaided schools for census duty before the Punjab and Haryana High Court. The court has stayed two Haryana government communications seeking details of teachers available for the exercise, with the matter scheduled for further hearing on April 29, 2027.
Census rules expand eligibility for enumerators
The amended rules broaden the categories of people who can be appointed to carry out census-related work.
Under the revised provisions, state governments and Union territory administrations can appoint teachers from educational institutions run by the government, local authorities, aided or unaided private bodies, societies and trusts.
The rules also permit the appointment of clerks and officials working for the Central Government, state governments and local authorities. Personnel from public sector undertakings, statutory bodies, banks, companies, institutions, societies and trusts are also eligible.
In addition, state and Union territory administrations can appoint any other person they consider suitable for census duties.
The amendment builds on the earlier provisions, which allowed the appointment of “teachers, clerks, or any official or any person” as census officers. The revised wording provides more specific categories of institutions and establishments from which personnel may be drawn.
The expansion is intended to provide administrations with a broader staffing pool for the large-scale population-counting exercise. However, the amendment does not resolve the separate legal challenge concerning the deployment of teachers from private unaided schools in Haryana.
Private school body challenges deployment in court
The rule change comes amid a petition filed by the Haryana Progressive Schools Conference in the Punjab and Haryana High Court.
The organisation has challenged the requisition and deployment of teaching staff from private unaided schools for census duties, arguing that the government lacks the legal authority to require such schools to provide personnel for the exercise.
The petition contends that neither the Census Act, 1948, nor the rules framed under it authorise the government to requisition teachers from private unaided schools for appointment as census enumerators or supervisors.
The petitioner has relied on Section 4A of the Census Act, arguing that the provision specifically addresses the availability of officers and staff of local authorities for census-related work.
According to the plea, private unaided schools and their employees do not fall within the definition or scope of a “local authority”. The organisation has therefore questioned the legal basis for requiring these schools to provide teaching staff for census duties.
In an order dated October 8, Justice Harpreet Singh Brar stayed the operation of two Haryana government communications seeking details of teachers who could be assigned census work.
The matter has been listed for April 29, 2027. The court’s interim order and the Centre’s subsequent amendment concern related issues, but the pending legal challenge will need to be considered on its own terms.
Census 2027 to be conducted in two phases
Census 2027 will be the eighth census conducted in India since Independence. The exercise was originally scheduled for 2021 but was postponed because of the Covid-19 pandemic.
The nationwide operation will take place in two phases. The first will cover house-listing and the housing census, while the second will involve population enumeration.
The Union Cabinet has approved Rs 11,718 crore for the exercise, which is expected to be the country’s largest population count to date.
The census will collect demographic, socio-cultural and economic information, along with details relating to migration and fertility. The data will be gathered from households across the country and will provide an important statistical foundation for government planning and policymaking.
The exercise requires substantial personnel and logistical support, including staff to visit households, record information and supervise the enumeration process. The revised rules widen the categories from which state and Union territory administrations can draw personnel.
Census schedule differs across states and regions
The census schedule will vary across parts of the country because of electoral commitments and weather conditions.
Population enumeration in Goa, Uttar Pradesh and Punjab, as well as in areas of Uttarakhand outside its snow-bound regions, is scheduled from December 1, 2026, to January 4, 2027. The schedule takes into account Assembly elections due in these states next year.
In Ladakh and the snow-bound areas of Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand, the house-listing exercise was conducted from September 1 to 30.
The Centre has also deferred the house-listing exercise in Manipur, according to a notification issued by the Registrar General of India last month.
For the rest of the country, the house-listing exercise is expected to begin in February 2027, according to the information provided.
These regional variations mean that census preparations and staffing requirements will not be identical across all states and Union territories.
Wider staffing pool as preparations continue
The amendment gives state governments and Union territory administrations greater flexibility in identifying personnel for census work. By explicitly including teachers from aided and unaided private institutions, the revised rules expand the categories of educational staff who may be appointed as census officers.
The change comes as preparations continue for a population count involving extensive household-level data collection across India.
At the same time, the legal challenge in Haryana highlights questions about the authority to requisition personnel from private unaided schools. The petitioner has argued that the provisions governing the availability of local-authority staff do not extend to private school employees.
The amendment and the court proceedings will therefore remain important developments as the census exercise moves forward. The High Court matter is scheduled for April 29, 2027, while the census will proceed according to the schedule notified for different regions.