Kolkata: The Calcutta High Court has questioned the assigning of census duties to govt school teachers after school hours or on weekends, calling it “arbitrary”.
Over 31 teachers were directed to give details of home, school, area assigned for census and duty hour to ASG by Friday evening.
“Teachers work from 10 am to 4 pm at school every day, and many of them travel from 40 km-60 km away. They get only one Sunday off. You will ask them to work on those Sundays for the census? So teachers don’t have work at home?” Justice Krishna Rao blasted the state, stressing a “balance” needed to be struck among census duty, teaching and teachers’ predicament. “Your authority issued orders on a bulk. I know how the state has to work, not like this. If you are the state, you have the total biodata of the person, where he resides, where he is posted. Why not take this (distance) factor into consideration?” Justice Rao told the state’s counsel.
The single judge directed ASG Dhiraj Kumar Trivedi to get instructions on Aug 18. Multiple petitions, which clubbed various cases of govt teachers seeking census duty relaxation, approached the HC on Aug 7.
ASG Trivedi submitted, “There can always be a middle way. I will ask AG and we can come to an understanding.”
