The Calcutta High Court on Thursday pulled up the Election Commission (EC) for failing to produce official notifications to justify the deployment of assistant professors as presiding officers for upcoming assembly elections.
Justice Krishna Rao questioned the poll panel’s position during the hearing, remarking that even judges could be appointed as polling officers under Section 26 of the Representation of the People Act. “You can appoint judges also… I am ready to go,” he observed, while asking the EC to place supporting documents on record.
The court was hearing a petition filed by a group of assistant professors who challenged the EC’s directive asking them to serve as presiding officers in West Bengal. The petitioners argued that the commission’s
earlier guidelines discouraged assigning polling duties at polling stations to Group A-equivalent officers, including university and college teachers, unless specific reasons were recorded in writing by the District Election Officer (DEO).
Section 26 of the law allows a DEO to appoint presiding officers for polling stations but bars the appointment of individuals employed by or working for any candidate.
During the proceedings, Justice Rao expressed concern over what he described as inconsistencies in the EC’s notifications. “This is not a joke. Every time you are changing your notification,” he said, adding that teachers should not be subjected to such treatment when there is a broader pool of officials available for election duty.
Counsel for the EC argued that the requisition for duty had been issued on March 19 and that the petition had been filed at a late stage. Intervening at this point, the court said that even if the matter was brought up at the last moment, it must still be decided in accordance with the law. Justice Rao also directed the EC to show the notification under which the professors had been requisitioned.
When the EC’s counsel cited a Supreme Court order involving the deployment of judicial officers, the judge questioned its applicability, noting that such directions could not be used indiscriminately.
The matter is scheduled to be heard again on Friday.
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