HC upholds EC order of poll duty for assistant profs

Kolkata: Every citizen must consider national interests, Calcutta High Court observed on Tuesday, staying the single judge's order and upholding the EC order, appointing assistant professors as presiding officers at polling booths.The EC challenged the single judge's order, which had exempted assistant professors from election duty, before the division bench of Justice Shampa Sarkar and Justice Ajay Kumar Gupta. Staying the single judge's order, the division bench said the scope of presiding officers' work was extensive and that assistant professors failed to explain why some faculty members complied with the EC directive. "Statutory duties must be followed by all citizens," the bench held."In such large-scale operations, central or state employees are primarily utilised, and in this case, all are state govt college teachers. There is no obstacle to their appointment in this context," the bench held. The court noted that the EC could not specify the exact number of teachers needed at polling booths. It was observed that intervention five days ahead of the poll could adversely affect the process. The EC counsel told the court there were 90,000 booths and 1,80,000-1,90,000 presiding officers had to be kept ready. Duty was assigned on March 19 and the writ was filed on April 8, the counsel stressed.
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