Kolkata. In a significant step, the Calcutta High Court today directed that all students' elections in colleges be held under the strict and close supervision of the Chief Electoral Officer, West Bengal, in view of the recent violence in several campuses in the state.
Justice Tapen Sen directed that all elections in colleges must be held under the supervision of the CEO till a seven-member committee, appointed by the state government, frames guidelines for students' elections in accordance with the Lyngdoh Committee report. The court also advised the students' bodies to concentrate more on their studies and to "refrain from identifying themselves with any particular organisation".
"They may contest elections, but such elections should be purely students' elections and should be used as a shield to protect their academic interests but not as a sword to destroy it," Justice Sen observed.
Taking suo moto notice of documents produced by the government and concluding that judicial intervention was necessary, the court directed that the CEO would be in charge of these elections and would be entitled to seek assistance of the state Director General of Police (DGP) for providing all help so that the elections are conducted in a peaceful and fair manner.
"The DGP will render all cooperation to the CEO whenever he so desires and on each day of the elections, he will ensure adequate deployment of police force in the area in question so that no untoward incident occurs," Justice Sen directed. The court further directed that the dates and programme of the election schedule shall be set out by the CEO and the college authorities would render total support to him in this regard
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