Kolkata, April 17 The Calcutta High Court on Friday quashed the Election Commission of India (ECI)’s decision to appoint college teachers as presiding officers for the forthcoming two-phase Assembly polls in the state.
A single-judge bench of Justice Krishna Rao quashed the ECI’s order.
The Commission had appointed assistant professor-rank college teachers to work as presiding officers for the upcoming Assembly elections in the state, issuing the notification a few days ago.
It also announced that they would be given separate training as presiding officers, and the training process also started for many of them.
Given this, the bench clarified that those teachers who have already undergone the training process will have to work as presiding officers, but those who have not undergone the training process as yet will not be appointed..
Following the Commission’s notification, a section of the college teachers approached the Calcutta High Court questioning the justification of such appointments.
The matter came up for hearing at Justice Rao’s bench on Friday, where the Commission’s counsel said that although there had been past instances of appointing college teachers as presiding officers in previous elections, this was the first time that a section of such college teachers had objected to this proposal.
However, the Commission’s counsel was unable to give any specific reason why the appointments of college teachers as presiding officers were so necessary.
Quashing of the Commission’s notification on the presiding officer appointments, Justice Rao also observed that if the ECI deemed it right, they could appoint the college teachers for other election-related duties according to their service grades and pay scales.
Elections to the West Bengal Assembly are to be held on April 23 and April 29. Votes will be counted on May 4, along with those polled in the elections to the Kerala, Assam, Tamil Nadu, and Puducherry Assemblies.
--IANS
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