The Madras High Court has said engaging school teachers in survey work for updating National Population Register cannot be construed as an act in violation of the provisions of the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education (RTE) Act, 2009.
The court was disposing of a PIL filed by Tamil Nadu Primary School Teachers Federation which stated that Section 27 of the RTE Act prohibits deployment of teachers for non-educational purposes except the decennial census and duties related to disaster relief and elections. Rejecting the petitioner's contention, the court agreed with Assistant Solicitor General (ASG) G.R. Swaminathans that updating of NPR database should be viewed as a continuous exercise of the census and there was nothing wrong in engaging school teachers for the work during holidays and after school hours on other days on payment of honorarium. A division bench of the court's Madurai Bench, comprising Justice S. Manikumar and Justice C.T. Selvam,recorded the submission of the ASG that the Tahsildar of Musiri Taluk in Tiruchirappalli district had actually committed a mistake by issuing a letter, on January 25, which was produced as a proof to show that teachers were being forced to carry out the survey even during school hours.
The bench disposed the PIL with theobservation that the members of the petitioner federation should not be required to carry out the work entrusted to them during school hours.
