MUMBAI, May 23 -- The Bombay High Court on Friday granted interim relief to over 500 private unaided and minority schools across Maharashtra, staying notices and appointment orders issued by the state government to compulsorily deploy its teachers for Census 2027 duties. A vacation bench of justices Gautam A Ankhad and Sandesh D Patil held that teachers employed in unaided educational institutions cannot be deputed for census duties, as provisions of the Census Act do not apply to them. Representatives of private unaided and minority schools, including The Unaided Schools Forum, had filed a petition challenging the government's deployment notice, issued under the provisions of the Census Act, 1948, and the Census Rules, 1990. The petition said the order to deploy teachers for census duties violated their fundamental rights, as it amounted to an "unwarranted interference with the administration of such institutions and disrupt the imparting of education". According to the petition, between November 2025 and March 2026, the state government directed private unaided and minority schools to furnish details about their teaching and non-teaching staff for their appointment as enumerators or supervisors for the census. The notices stated that "coercive action would be taken against non-complying schools under the provisions of the Census Act," the petition said. Subsequently, many such schools responded to the authorities, stating that the provisions of the Census Act do not apply to them. As such, their staff cannot be requisitioned or deployed for non-educational purposes, particularly during school hours, as it would adversely affect the imparting of education to students, the petition said. Despite this, several school teachers were unilaterally appointed as enumerators or supervisors without the schools being given an opportunity to object, the petition added. The government argued that the census is one of the largest administrative and statistical exercises undertaken in the country. Since most of the schools are presently closed for summer vacation, "there would not be any disruption to academic activities or prejudice to students," it said. However, the court noted that section 4A of the Census Act obligates only a "local authority" to make its staff available for census operations, and that private unaided schools don't fall under this definition....