Following a plea within the Bombay Excessive Court docket (HC), district election officers of Thane and Palghar on Wednesday agreed to alleviate 4 ‘exempted class’ academics from ballot responsibility.
The academics, two of whom are approaching retirement, one a lactating mom and one handicapped, had been appointed as ‘first polling officers’ regardless of falling underneath the worker classes which are excluded from being requisitioned for election work by the Election Fee of India (ECI).
Petition filed by the Maharashtra Rajya Shikshan Kranti Sangathna
The division bench of justices AS Chandurkar and Jitendra Jain additionally allowed different academics in related conditions to method their respective election officers for reduction, whereas directing the officers to resolve these points ‘expeditiously’.
The courtroom was listening to a petition filed by the Maharashtra Rajya Shikshan Kranti Sangathna, a Thane-based college academics’ physique, which has moved the Bombay Excessive Court docket (HC) towards academics from personal unaided colleges and people belonging to exempted classes, being drafted for election responsibility. Whereas the courtroom granted reduction to the latter, it’s but to decide concerning the former class of educators. The matter will now be heard on Might 6.
In its plea, the affiliation has alleged that the district polling officers of Mumbai, Thane and Palghar have requisitioned instructing employees from a number of unaided colleges as first polling officers, regardless of ECI directive of recruiting personnel for polling responsibility from the federal government institutes. The petition has additionally alleged that a number of academics had been requested to report for election work despite the fact that they had been exempted from it. These academics’ requests to be excused from election responsibility fell on deaf ears, claims the petitioner.
Polling officers are ‘misusing’ their authority
The academics’ organisation claims that it has obtained round 300 complaints from unaided college academics and people falling underneath exempted classes as having obtained appointment orders from district election places of work. They alleged that the polling officers are ‘misusing’ their authority and aren’t even permitting the aggrieved academics to boost their issues, behaving with them rudely and utilizing foul language. They’re threatening academics with disciplinary motion in case of non-compliance, the petitioner has claimed.
“The academics are being left with no choice and are underneath immense strain of educational work of their colleges as it’s the time of ultimate examinations. The arbitral use of authority by district officers and their zonal officers is including to the dismay of the academics which is additional resulting in their exploitation and harassment,” mentioned Raeed Kazi, counsel for the petitioner.
The affiliation has requested the courtroom to ask the state authorities to difficulty instructions to all district election officers to scrutinise all the workers earlier than summoning them for ballot responsibility, and to not difficulty orders of appointment to exempted class and unaided academics. It has additionally sought quashing of current orders to those academics.
Earlier this month, HC directed three organisations representing personal unaided colleges in Maharashtra to cooperate with the ECI in offering particulars about their employees. Nevertheless, in a 2019 judgment, the courtroom had additionally mentioned that the personal unaided college employees can’t be known as for election responsibility since they aren’t coated underneath Part 159 of Illustration of Folks Act.