New Delhi, Jul 28 Underscoring the need to balance the students' right to education with the ongoing SIR of electoral rolls here, the Delhi High Court on Tuesday asked the Election Commission to be "sensitive" to the condition of government school teachers requisitioned for the exercise and ensure that they are not overburdened.
A bench of Chief Justice D K Upadhyaya and Justice Tejas Karia said the Special Intensive Revision was undoubtedly "important" but expressed displeasure at the "threatening" tenor of an Election Commission of India (ECI) order to principals not to obstruct election-related work.
The bench also directed the authorities to keep in mind that undue stress is not caused to the teachers who have been called upon to act as booth level officers (BLOs) and enumeration staff after working for long hours in school.
"What we all want from you is to be a bit sensitive to their situation. We are not curtailing your right. We are conscious of the human condition which these teachers are undergoing. Asking any teacher to work for eleven hours...Teaching staff, mostly, it is women. They have children, their families. You have to humanise their conditions. What language you have applied while issuing this order. Are you creating fear or what?" the bench told the EC.
"We do not undermine the exercise being undertaken by the ECI. The issue is how to strike a balance with Section 27 of the Right to Education Act. It appears that you are least bothered about the Right to Education Act. The kind of language that you have used in this. The whole tenor of the letter is threatening," it added.
As the petitioner alleged that teachers were not being allowed to perform their school duties, the court asked him to file a rejoinder to the ECI's response and state any specific instance where a teacher was asked to prioritise election-related work over teaching.
The counsel for the ECI assured that the government teachers were not being overburdened and that there were volunteers to assist them and also provide refreshments.
Informing that the SIR process was scheduled only till August 8, he added that teaching in "regular" subjects was also unaffected as the teachers have been asked to work on holidays, non-teaching days or during non-teaching hours, as mandated by the Supreme Court.
The ECI counsel further stated that no teacher has complained, and the strength being actually withdrawn from schools was minuscule, being around 14 per cent.
The top court listed the matter for hearing on August 20 while expecting that the ECI and its officers will be "mindful" of its observations when assigning electoral revision work to teachers.
"It is expected from the ECI and its officers to be mindful of the duties which teachers undergo while performing election-related duties after school hours/ non- teaching days. Accordingly, we direct that while assigning work related to electoral revision to teachers, the aforesaid shall also be kept in mind by the ECI.
"They shall take all appropriate steps so that the election-related work does not cause so much stress on the teachers which may lead to unbearable burden," the court ordered.
Lawyers Rajesh Kumar Gogna and Ashok Agarwal have stated in their PIL that they want to protect the fundamental right to education of lakhs of children studying in government, municipal and government-aided schools in Delhi, whose teachers have been assigned to work in the SIR process.
Referring to the requisition of 149 teachers from 15 government schools for SIR in Ambedkar Nagar constituency, the PIL has claimed that in several schools, the entire regular faculty has been withdrawn during teaching hours, leaving classes to be conducted by either guest teachers or teachers of unrelated subjects.
"The deployment is contrary to the law declared in Election Commission of India vs. St. Mary's School, violates section 27 read with sections 25-26 of the RTE Act, 2009, and ignores the vast pool of non-teaching staff of the authorities amenable to requisition under Section 159 of the Representation of the People Act," the petition said.
The PIL has sought a direction to the authorities to "rationalise" deployment of school teachers by capping it at 10 per cent and scheduling their duties outside teaching hours. It also sought a direction to the authorities to first utilise the available non-teaching staff for the SIR process.
