Kolkata: Observing that the state cannot continue to postpone elections to student councils, the Calcutta High Court directed the Higher Education Department to submit an affidavit informing as to how it proposes to proceed further and comply with the laid down rule for holding the polls to the student bodies in colleges and universities.
The bench of Chief Justice TS Sivagnanam and Justice Chaitali Chatterjee (Das) observed that the state has not amended its rules according to the Lyngdoh Committee report which was accepted by the Supreme Court. Since such an amendment was not made, the state needs to follow the existing rule.
The rule being referred to is the West Bengal Universities and Colleges (Composition, Functions and Procedure for Election of Students’ Council) Rules, 2017.
One of the mandates under this rule states the following: “The election of Students’ Council shall be conducted regularly once in every two years as may be advised by the State Government from time to time, and every such elected Students’ Council shall ordinarily have a tenure of two years unless otherwise directed by the State Government”.
The court thus observed that the state needs to comply with the mandate under the rule which is a statutory requirement. The state was directed to submit an affidavit two weeks from date informing how it proposes to proceed with the elections which cannot continue to be postponed.
The petitioner’s counsel submitted that every other election in the state is being conducted except elections to student councils despite the existing rule mandating that such polls be held regularly once in every two years. “Let state begin the procedure for holding the polls,”
it was submitted.
The state counsel submitted that one of the obstacles is the lack of regular vice-chancellors in some of the universities while the other is that the state is yet to amend its existing rule according to the recommendations of the Lyngdoh Committee report that was accepted by the Supreme Court.