Chandigarh, Oct. 11 -- The Punjab and Haryana High Court (HC) has stayed a Haryana government communication requisitioning private school teachers for census duty. The HC bench of Justice HS Brar acted on a plea from the Haryana Progressive Schools Conference, which argued that the compulsory deployment of teaching staff from private unaided schools for duties unconnected with teaching, in the absence of clear statutory authority, amounts to impermissible interference with the autonomy of these institutions

The court was informed that authorities had sought details of teachers working in private and government schools for Census 2027. "The respondents have no statutory authority under the Census Act, 1948, or the rules framed thereunder ...