n Delhi Lieutenant Governor Vinai Kumar Saxena has approved the extension of the date to freeze boundaries of the administrative units to June 30, in view of the delayed Census-2021. A proposal of the Delhi government’s revenue department to extend the date of freezing boundaries of administrative units from January 1 to June 30, for the purpose of census exercise has been approved, a note from Raj Niwas said on Tuesday.

 The office of Registrar General India (ORGI), Ministry of Home Affairs, through its letter dated September 6, 2019 had requested the then chief secretary of Delhi to freeze the boundaries of the administrative units for the ensuing Census-2021 with effect from December 31, 2019, it said.

 Accordingly, the LG had conveyed his directions to the effect that the boundaries of the administrative units for census will be frozen from December 31, 2019.

“But due to the Covid-19 pandemic, Census-2021 was delayed, leading to an extension of the date of freezing the boundaries of administrative units,” it said. The last extension up to January 1, 2024 was done through a letter of the revenue department on August 18 last year, after the LG’s approval.

As per rule 8 (iv) of Census Rules, 1990, the state governments and the Union Territory administrations will freeze the administrative boundaries of districts, tehsils, towns and such others entities, from the date to be intimated by the Census Commissioner, which will not be earlier than one year from the census reference date and till the completion of the census, the statement added.

In March last year, the government notified certain amendments to Census Rules to allow citizens to self-enumerate themselves in the Census and National Population Register (NPR). The development had led to speculation that the house-listing phase of the Census may begin last year itself.