Kolkata, April 21 (IANS) The Calcutta High Court on Tuesday overturned the earlier order of a single judge bench quashing the Election Commission of India (ECI)’s decision to appoint college teachers as presiding officers for the forthcoming two-phase Assembly polls in West Bengal.

On April 17, a single-judge Bench of Justice Krishna Rao quashed the ECI’s order for the appointment of college teachers as presiding officers for the forthcoming polls, but maintained that the college teachers who have already undergone necessary training in the matter will have to act as presiding officers this time.

Justice Rao, at the same time, gave freedom to the Commission to appoint college teachers for other electoral duties according to their service grades and pay scales.

The ECI, on April 20, approached the division bench of Justice Shampa Sarkar and Justice Ajay Kumar Gupta, challenging the main part of the order of the single-judge bench.

The matter came up for hearing on Wednesday, and after a detailed hearing in the matter, the division bench scrapped the earlier order and cleared the decks for the polls panel to recruit college teachers as the Presiding Officers.

It accepted the argument of the poll panel that there had been past instances of appointing college teachers as presiding officers in previous elections, and never before had the decision been challenged.

The division bench also observed that while a section of the college teachers had opposed the move, another section had already complied as directed by the Commission, and hence there could not be two sets of rules for two sets of college teachers.

Elections to the West Bengal Assembly are to be held on April 23 and April 29. Votes will be counted on May 4, along with those polled in the elections to the Kerala, Assam, Tamil Nadu, and Puducherry Assemblies.

–IANS

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