‘Can EC do whatever it wants?’: HC on deputing teachers for SIR in Delhi

The Delhi High Court on Friday sought the Election Commission’s (EC) response to a public interest litigation (PIL) plea challenging the “large-scale” deployment of government school teachers as Booth-Level Officers (BLOs) and enumeration staff for the ongoing special intensive revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in the national capital.

A Bench of Chief Justice D.K. Upadhyaya and Justice Tejas Karia directed the EC to file a short affidavit after hearing the PIL plea filed by advocates Rajesh Kumar Gogna and Ashok Agarwal. The plea questioned whether government school teachers could be mandatorily assigned election duties.

On July 22, Suman Lata, 51, a teacher at a Municipal Corporation of Delhi primary school and assigned BLO duties, died of a heart attack, her family said. Her husband, Sanjeev Kumar Yadav, said Lata had been under considerable stress over the past few days while balancing her responsibilities as a teacher and duties as a BLO.

The EC’s counsel submitted that the SIR is a nationwide exercise and teachers are required to perform poll-related work only during non-teaching hours or on holidays. He said teachers receive honorarium and compensation for the work, adding that only 10-14% of teachers are ultimately deployed.

“If a request is made for nine teachers, the school deploys only three to four. I don’t have a problem with four teachers showing up,” the EC’s counsel said, describing the poll panel’s approach as “liberal”.

‘What if they need rest?’

The Bench observed that if the EC states that participation by teachers is voluntary rather than mandatory, the court could dispose of the matter. “Can they be said to be mandatory? Somebody is not interested in your honorarium or compensation. They need rest. It should be voluntary. Taking shade of Article 324, you can do whatever you want?” the court orally remarked. “If you are calling them volunteers, make that statement. We will dispose of it,” it added.

Article 324 grants EC the power of “superintendence, direction and control” over polls in India.

‘Students affected’

The plea contended that the mass deployment of government, municipal and government-aided school teachers for the SIR is adversely affecting the education of lakhs of students in Delhi. It alleged that in several schools, regular teaching staff had been withdrawn during school hours, forcing classes to be handled by guest teachers or teachers from unrelated subjects.

The plea sought a direction to the authorities to “rationalise” the deployment of school teachers by capping it at 10% and scheduling their duties outside teaching hours.

The High Court listed the next hearing in the plea for July 28.