PRAYAGRAJ, June 11 -- The Allahabad high court has stayed the order dated May 5 of the Kanpur Nagar Nigam by which the employees of the Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) were requisitioned for census duty. Hearing a special appeal filed by North Central Zone Insurance Employees Federation, a division bench comprising Justice Salil Kumar Rai and Justice Swarupama Chaturvedi observed, "A reading of section 7(c) of the Census Act, 1948 shows that even though the state government through its authorized officer may requisition the staff of any establishment, firm or factory for assistance in census operations but the same can only be for the purpose of census operations within the premises of such establishment and not outside the premises. Therefore, the order dated May 5, 2026 prima facie is not within the parameters laid down under section 7(c) of the Census Act, 1948". In the special appeal, the north central zone insurance employees federation had challenged the decision of the single judge of this court dated May 29,2026 whereby the single judge had dismissed the writ petition of the petitioner association on the ground that the petitioner had not specifically challenged the order by which the employees of the Life Insurance Corporation were requisitioned for census duty. During the court proceedings, the counsel for petitioner, Vikrant Pandey argued that since the employees of LIC do not come within the purview of other authorities, therefore, they cannot be called for census duty. However, the additional solicitor general of India (ASGI), Shashi Prakash Singh, representing the government of and chief standing counsel Manoj Kumar Singh, representing the Uttar Pradesh government took the plea that since the census operations are of national importance, no interim order be passed. Ashish Mishra, advocate, appeared on behalf of the LIC. Terming the above submissions as not acceptable, the high court 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". After hearing both sides, the court noted that the Zonal Manager, Kanpur, Nagar Nigam had no jurisdiction to requisition the employees of the Life Insurance Corporation under section 4 of the Census Act, 1948 as requisitioned by his order dated May 5, 2026. The order is contrary to a Division Bench judgment dated March 4, 2011 passed by this Court..., the court added. The court said that prima facie, this special appeal required a detailed hearing. In view of it, the court directed to list this case for final hearing on July 6, 2026 before the appropriate bench....