Ahmedabad: The Gujarat High Court on Tuesday issued notices to census authorities on a petition filed by the Bank of India Officers Association challenging orders assigning its employees census duties.

The association has challenged a May 12 order issued by the Surat City Census Officer, who is also a Deputy Municipal Commissioner of the Surat Municipal Corporation (SMC), appointing BOI officers and employees as enumerators and supervisors under Section 4 of the Census Act.

The petition argues that Bank of India is not a local authority and, therefore, its employees cannot be deployed for census work. The association said its representation seeking withdrawal of the order was rejected by the authorities.

The petitioners relied on Section 4A of the Census Act, which provides for the engagement of local body staff for census operations. They also cited a previous case in which Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) employees successfully challenged a similar assignment during the 2011 Census. The decision, later upheld by a division bench in 2019, held that employees of institutions that are not local bodies cannot be requisitioned for census duties.

Seeking a stay on the order, the association contended that the deployment was unlawful. However, Justice L.S. Pirzada noted that the census exercise is a long process and had only commenced on Monday.

The court issued notices to the Registrar General and Census Commissioner of India and the Surat City Census Officer, seeking their responses by June 10, when the matter will be heard next. DeshGujarat