Kolkata, April 20 (IANS) The Election Commission of India (ECI) on Monday approached a Division Bench of the Calcutta High Court challenging an earlier order by a single-judge Bench of the same court, quashing the poll panel’s decision to appoint college teachers as Presiding Officers for the forthcoming two-phase Assembly polls in West Bengal, later this month.

On April 17, the Calcutta High Court’s 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.

On Monday, the ECI approached the Calcutta High Court’s Division Bench of Justice Shampa Sarkar and Justice Ajay Kumar Gupta, challenging the main part of the order of the single-judge Bench last week that quashed the Commission’s decision to appoint college teachers as Presiding Officers.

The tentative date of hearing in the matter is Tuesday.

To recall, the Commission had appointed Assistant Professor-rank college teachers to work as Presiding Officers for the upcoming Assembly elections in the state, issuing the notification a few days ago. It also announced that they would be given separate training as Presiding Officers, and the training process also started for many of them.

Following the Commission’s notification, a section of the college teachers approached the Calcutta High Court questioning the justification of such appointments. The Commission’s argument in favour of appointing the college teachers as Presiding Officers was that there had been past instances of appointing college teachers as Presiding Officers in previous elections, and never before had the decision been challenged.

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

src/rad