Overview
- The division bench of Justices Shampa Sarkar and Ajay Kumar Gupta on Tuesday stayed an April 17 single-judge order that had quashed some presiding officer postings.
- The ruling allows the Election Commission of India to deploy assistant and associate professors from government colleges as presiding officers for the two-phase assembly election.
- The bench cautioned against routine use of Group A officers and still found the poll staffing need justified for the near-term conduct of voting.
- The Commission told the court it issued show-cause notices to professors who skipped training, and the judges ordered presiding-officer training to start Wednesday.
- The dispute arises against a 2010 ECI directive that usually assigns Grade-A academics as micro-observers, with some professors challenging postings even as others have already taken up duty.