The Kerala government has notified the appointment of officials for both rural and urban areas as part of preparations for Census 2027. As per an earlier order issued by the General Administration Department, the first phase of the exercise — Houselisting and Housing Census — will be conducted over a one-month period between April and September 2026. The second phase, Population Enumeration, will be held in February 2027, with March 1, 2027, fixed as the reference date.

The move follows the Central government’s notification under Section 3 of the Census Act, 1948, declaring that the Census of Population of India will be conducted in 2027. Under the Act, State governments are required to appoint officers for specified areas, authorise them to appoint subordinate Census officials, supervise the related operations within their jurisdictions, and empower District Collectors to sanction prosecution for offences under the Act.

The appointments were made after the State government accepted the proposals submitted by the Joint Director of the Directorate of Census Operations. It has been ordered that all officials concerned shall carry out their Census-related responsibilities on receiving instructions from the Director of Census Operations, Kerala, without adversely affecting their regular office duties.

District Collectors will function as the Principal Census Officers in their respective districts, while Deputy Collectors will serve as District Census Officers. Joint Directors of the Local Self Government Department, Deputy Directors of Education, Deputy Directors of Economics and Statistics, District Planning Officers, District Informatics Officers, District Information Officers and District Project Managers of the IT Mission will act as Additional or Deputy District Census Officers.

Sub-Divisional Officers, Sub Collectors or Revenue Divisional Officers were designated as Sub-Divisional Census Officers in their respective revenue divisions. Tahsildars will function as Charge Census Officers in their taluks, covering Census Towns (non-statutory), reserve and vested forest areas, wildlife sanctuaries and national parks, excluding municipal corporations, municipal towns, cantonments, special charges and outgrowths.

In districts with Municipal Corporations having multiple charges — Thiruvananthapuram, Kollam, Kochi and Kozhikode — the Municipal Secretary or Administrative Head will serve as the Additional Principal Census Officer under the district’s Principal Census Officer. Additional or Deputy Municipal Secretaries, or Deputy Administrative Heads, will act as City Census Officers in these corporations.

In Municipal Corporations without multiple charges, Municipal Towns, Cantonment Boards, Sanitary Boards and similar statutory areas, the Chief Officer, Executive Officer, Secretary or Administrator will function as the Charge Census Officer. In divisions, zones or groups of wards within Municipal Corporations with multiple charges, officers at appropriate levels below the Municipal Secretary will be designated as Charge Census Officers, with Additional Charge Census Officers appointed at levels below them.

For areas under the control of Defence Services, the Central Reserve Police Force, the Border Security Force and other similar military or paramilitary organisations, Special Charge Officers will be appointed by the Director of Census Operations, in consultation with the concerned Principal Census Officers.

The Director of Census Operations has been designated as the Chief Principal Census Officer. The Deputy Registrar General (C&T), Joint Director of Census Operations, Deputy Director of Census Operations and Assistant Director of Census Operations will serve respectively as the Additional Chief Principal Census Officer, Joint Chief Principal Census Officer, Deputy Chief Principal Census Officer and Assistant Chief Principal Census Officer.

Under Section 11 of the Census Act, 1948, any Census Officer or person legally required to assist in Census operations who refuses to perform assigned duties, or obstructs others in carrying out such duties, is liable to a fine of up to ₹1,000. On conviction, the offence may also attract imprisonment of up to three years.

Delimitation schedule
For the smooth conduct of the Census, the entire State will be systematically divided into a graded hierarchy of territorial jurisdictions. The initial division will be based on existing revenue districts, which will then be classified as urban or rural.

Municipal Corporations, Municipal Towns, Cantonment Boards, and areas notified as Census Towns and Outgrowths will be treated as urban areas, while all remaining regions will fall under rural areas. However, for Census enumeration purposes, non-statutory Census Towns will come under the jurisdiction of the rural Charge Census Officer (Tahsildar). At the same time, Outgrowths will be included under the urban Charge Census Officer of the respective statutory towns.

Each urban area will be further divided into wards, and each revenue village will be subdivided into Panchayat wards or portions of wards, as applicable. The smallest administrative unit for Census operations will be the Enumeration Block.