Calcutta High Court cancels appointment of professors as poll officers

The Calcutta High Court has set aside the appointment of assistant professors as presiding officers for West Bengal assembly polls, ruling that the Election Commission failed to justify the decision as per its guidelines on assigning senior officials to polling duties

Kolkata: The Calcutta High Court has set aside the appointment of some assistant professors as presiding officers by the Election Commission for the two-phase assembly elections in West Bengal.

The petitioners, belonging to the West Bengal Government College Teachers’ Association, filed an application challenging their appointment as presiding officers in polling booths for the assembly polls scheduled on April 23 and 29.

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The petitioners claimed that they are holding posts of assistant professors but have been assigned the work of presiding officers without considering their pay level.

Justice Krishna Rao set aside and quashed the appointments of the professors, who are the petitioners, as presiding officers for the state assembly elections, holding that the authorities failed to produce any document to show the unavoidable circumstances based on which the appointments were made.

The court said on Friday that the assistant professors have been appointed as presiding officers in violation of a circular of the Election Commission dated February 16, 2010.

Their lawyer Shamim Ahmed said that there are more than 300 members of the association which moved the court, and that the order was applicable to the petitioners only.

In their plea, the petitioners claimed that the circular on requisition of staff for election purposes mentioned that Group A equivalent senior officers, including teaching staff of universities, colleges, etc., should not be drafted for duties in polling station premises without “specific reasons to be recorded in writing by the District Election Officer where such appointments become unavoidable”.

The petitioners’ lawyer stated before the court that they are holding posts of assistant professors but have been assigned the work of presiding officers without considering their pay level.

The counsel for the Election Commission submitted before the court that there are approximately 90,000 booths for the elections on April 23 and April 29, and as such, it is not possible for the authorities to prepare the seniority list, and there might be some overlap.