Chandigarh; Sanjay Pahwa:- In civil writ petition moved by Manisha Jain before the Hon’ble Punjab & Haryana High Court, Chandigarh alleging that she has been forced to work on census duty after working hour was illegal and violation of her fundamental rights. The Hon’ble Mr. Justice K. Kannan while granting the interim relief to Manisha Jain i.e. Petitioner said that a similar matter has already been settled by the Bombay High Court wherein the High Court held that the private teacher cannot be forced her census duty. He mentioned that it would be incorrect to force private teacher to serve on census duty after working hours.
The counsel for the petitioner Advocate A.P.S. Shergill had stated in the petition that the petitioner had joined an unaided private school as a Teacher in May 2009 and continues to work therein as a Mathematics Teacher. The petitioner has been directed by the Sub Divisional Census Officer-cum-Zonal Commissioner, Municipal Corporation to perform the duties of a Census Enumerator for the census operation being undertaken by the Government of India. Such directions by the Government to force the petitioner to perform the duties of Census Enumerator was illegal, void ab-initio and infringes the fundamental rights of the petitioner.
The petitioner had prayed for issuance of a writ of mandamus directing the respondents to abstain from compelling the private school teachers to do census duty beyond the school hours and without their explicit consent and free will, which is guaranteed under the Constitution of India.
The Hon’ble Punjab & Haryana High Court adjourned the matter for 17.07.2010