HC stays KMC order to ropein LIC staff for census duty

Prayagraj: The Allahabad high court has stayed the order, issued by the Kanpur Municipal Corporation (KMC) on May 5, by which the employees of the Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) were requisitioned for census duty for Census 2027.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 though the state govt 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,” the court said in his order on June 8.In the special appeal, the employees’ federation had challenged the single-judge order dated May 29, 2026, whereby the court had dismissed the writ petition of the 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 did not come within the purview of other authorities, therefore, they cannot be called for census duty.However, additional solicitor general of India (ASGI), Shashi Prakash Singh, representing the central govt and chief standing counsel, Manoj Kumar Singh, representing the Uttar Pradesh govt, took the plea that since the census operations are of national importance, therefore, no interim order be passed. Advocate Ashish Mishra appeared on behalf of LIC.Terming the 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, prima facie we find the order bad in law”.After hearing both the sides, the court noted that the Kanpur Nagar Nigam had no jurisdiction to requisition the employees ofLIC under Section 4 of the Census Act, 1948.The order is contrary to a division bench judgment dated March 4, 2011, passed by the high court, the court added.The court said that prima facie, this special appeal required a detailed hearing and added that the case be listed for final hearing on July 6, 2026, before the appropriate bench.