New Delhi, December 5
In order to hold elections to student unions in universities across the country in an orderly and transparent manner, the Supreme Court today issued directions for setting up of a committee under a former Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) to lay down rules and guidelines for the elections.
The court gave a week’s time to the Union Government to get consent of former CEC J.M. Lyngdoh or T.S. Krishnamurthy as who among them would be available to head the panel.
A Bench of Mr Justice Arijit Pasayat and Mr Justice S.H. Kapadia said the committee would have three prominent educationists as its members and Human Resource Development Secretary as convener.
The court said the committee would suggest qualifications and disqualifications for students contesting the elections, ceiling on the expenditure and whether the student unions could be affiliated to any political party.
It would also lay down rules regarding funding of the elections and suggest whether the unions would be required to file annual returns of their finances.
The court observed that it wanted the elections to the student unions should be held in a “total transparent and peaceful” manner, without causing any disturbance to the academic atmosphere on the campus.
At one point during the hearing when the court indicated that it would stay the election till the guidelines were framed by the committee, Additional Solicitor-General Gopal Subramaniam requested that the government should be given a week’s time to submit its report along with consent from either of the two former CECs.
In fact the names of Mr Lyngdoh and Mr Krishnamurthy were suggested by the court itself, saying that their experience in holding the elections at the national level should be utilised for streamlining the student unions’ elections, which virtually had been “spoiling” the academic atmosphere on campus due to a large-scale involvement of outside forces and political parties.
The matter had come before the apex court in an appeal by University of Kerala raising the issue of student unions’ elections for which it had laid down certain guidelines which were set aside by the state High Court following a petition.
