No restriction on deploying school teachers for election duties as BLOs, ECI informs Delhi High Court
Justice Mini Pushkarna sought responses from the ECI and the Delhi government, 'bringing forth all the facts on record', while posting the matter for further consideration on September 25.
The petitioners in the case are teachers in government schools aggrieved by office orders dated June 9 and 16, through which they were deployed as BLOs. Objecting to the appointment, the petitioners told the high court that their appointment as BLOs was in contravention of the ECI's guidelines of November 3, 2010, and October 4, 2022. According to the petitioners, teachers can be deployed as BLOs only after exhausting all the categories of employees.
They also pointed out that their appointment contradicted Section 27 of the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act (RTE Act), 2009. According to this section, teachers should not be assigned non-educational tasks. They argued that they are in the Group B category, while the Delhi government has intentionally not deployed those in Group C category as BLOs.
The Election Commission, however, pointed out that an amendment was carried out on June 5 to the earlier guidelines, modifying several clauses. Part of the amended clauses include that 'any person can be appointed as a BLO from amongst any Group C and above regular serving employees of the state/local government, enrolled as elector in that part/area'.
The Delhi government and the ECI informed the court that teachers can be deployed as BLOs, as long as they work on holidays, non-teaching days, and outside teaching hours. The court has now sought formal replies on affidavits from ECI and the Delhi government.
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