PIL in Delhi HC seeks quashing of teachers' deployment for poll duty

A PIL in the Delhi High Court challenges the deployment of government school teachers for election duties, arguing it disrupts education. The plea seeks to cap deployment at 10% of staff and restrict it to non-teaching hours.

A Public Interest Litigation (PIL) has been filed before the Delhi High Court seeking directions to quash orders requisitioning government and municipal school teachers for Booth Level Officer (BLO) and Special Intensive Revision (SIR) duties to the extent that they deploy more than 10 per cent of the regular teachers of any school or require teachers to perform election-related work during school hours. The petition has been filed by advocates Rajesh Kumar Gogna and Ashok Agarwal.The petition also seeks directions to the Election Commission of India and other authorities to ensure that the requisition of teachers is carried out in a manner that does not disrupt classroom teaching and that election duties are assigned by first utilising the large pool of non-teaching staff available under Section 159 of the Representation of the People Act, 1951. It further seeks appropriate safeguards to protect the education and safety of children studying in government and municipal schools in Delhi.

Impact on Students and Schools

According to the PIL, lakhs of students studying in government, municipal and government-aided schools are being adversely affected because their teachers have been deployed in large numbers as BLOs and for SIR work, while private unaided schools have not been similarly affected. The petition contends that in several schools the entire regular teaching staff has been withdrawn during teaching hours, leaving classes to guest teachers or teachers of unrelated subjects.

Legal Grounds for the Petition

The petition argues that such deployment violates Articles 14, 21 and 21A of the Constitution and is contrary to the Supreme Court's judgment in Election Commission of India v. St. Mary's School (2008), which held that election work should ordinarily be assigned to teaching staff during holidays or non-teaching days so that classroom education is not disrupted. It also alleges violation of the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009, particularly the provisions relating to maintenance of the prescribed pupil-teacher ratio and restrictions on deployment of teachers for non-educational work.

Specific Instances Cited in PIL

Referring to specific instances, the petition states that an order dated July 14, 2026 issued by the Electoral Registration Officer for Ambedkar Nagar Assembly Constituency requisitioned 149 teachers drawn from around 15 government schools, including entire subject faculties in several schools, for BLO duties. It further relies on a media report stating that all regular teachers in two Delhi government schools had been deployed for SIR work, severely affecting classroom teaching.

The PIL also places reliance on representations made by the Vice and Principals' Association of Delhi and by the petitioners, claiming that despite requests for rationalisation of teacher deployment, no remedial action has been taken by the authorities. (ANI)

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