College teachers file petition against poll duty

CHANDIGARH: The decision of the Punjab government to involve teachers working in the privately managed recognised colleges in the ensuing general elections to Lok Sabha by assigning duties as presiding officers at some places, has been challenged in the Punjab and Haryana High Court.
The petition in this regard has been filed by Punjab & Chandigarh College Teachers Union (PCCTU) seeking directions to quash the orders of April 15, 2004 issued by the deputy commissioners of Jalandhar and Hoshiarpur.The orders, it has been contended by the counsel for the petitioners Jalandhar-based Dr V K Tewari and Dr Kulwant Singh general secretary and a member of the union executive committee respectively who were senior teachers in the D A V College and Lyallpur Khalsa College there, are violative of the apex court''s decision given in 1995. The Supreme Court, the counsel further said, had ruled that the services of persons who were not employees of state or the central governments, could not be requisitioned for poll duty under section 26 of the peoples representation act,1951.
The petitioners were neither employees of the state government nor of the central government and as such could not be directed to perform poll duty, it was further argued. However, it was further submitted that in terms of election commission communication of September 21, 1996 lecturers and staff of the colleges could be deployed for poll duties only on the basis of their pay scale and seniority.
In sharp contrast to this, the petitioners were being forced to work under the assistant returning officers or even supervisors, who were far junior to them in seniority and pay scale, they further added while seeking directions to quash the order requisitioning their services of in the alternative to assign duty which was to commensurate with their status and salary.
The division bench of Justices Swatanter Kumar and Amar Dutt on Thursday issued notice to respondents for May 3. The respondents include the election commission, Punjab chief secretary and the state chief electoral officer, the deputy commissioners of Jalandhar and Hoshiarpur who are also the district election officers for their respective districts.