New front in Centre vs Mamata tussle: Bengal yet to republish Census 2027 notification

Republication of the notification is a statutory requirement to notify the state’s intent to conduct the population count exercise, of which the first phase—the Houselisting and Housing Census—is scheduled to begin on April 1 this year.

The notification was issued by the Union Home Ministry on June 16 last year and all other states and Union Territories have already re-published it.

In recent months, the BJP-led Centre and the Trinamool Congress (TMC)-led Bengal government have been at odds over several issues, including the release of funds under the Central schemes such as MGNREGS and PMAY-G, and the SIR exercise and ED raids on I-PAC.

The conference organised by the office of the Registrar General and Census Commissioner of India, which comes under the Ministry of Home Affairs and is responsible for conducting the decadal census, discussed the preparations for the Census 2027.

According to the rule 8(i) of the Census Rules 1990, the state governments and the Union Territory administrations are required to “republish the intention of taking a census notified by the Central government in their state or Union territory gazettes”.

Apart from the republication of the Census notification, the West Bengal government is yet to confirm the Centre’s definition of identifying Urban Agglomerations (UAs), it is learnt. As per the Census of India, an urban agglomeration is a continuous urban spread constituting a town and its adjoining outgrowths or two or more physically contiguous towns together with or without outgrowth of such towns.

The Census is a Union subject and is listed at serial number 69 in the Seventh Schedule of the Constitution of India.

On June 16 last year, the Centre issued a notification declaring its intent to conduct the Census 2027. The notification states: “The reference date for the said census shall be 00.00 hours of the 1st day of March, 2027, except for the Union territory of Ladakh and snow-bound non-synchronous areas of the Union territory of Jammu and Kashmir and the States of Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand.”

“In respect of the Union Territory of Ladakh and snow-bound non-synchronous areas of the Union Territory of J&K and the states of Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand, the reference date shall be 00:00 hours of the 1st day of October, 2026,” it said.

The June 16 notification was issued under the  Census Act, 1948, which empowers the Centre to undertake a census in the country. The Section 3 of the Census law states, “The Central government may, by notification in the Official Gazette, declare its intention of taking a census in the whole or any part of the territories to which this Act extends, whenever it may consider it necessary or desirable so to do and thereupon the census shall be taken.”