Kolkata: The Calcutta High Court on Thursday asked the Bengal government to clarify its position on holding student union elections in colleges and universities across the state.
The Division Bench of Justice Soumen Sen and Justice Smita Das De was hearing a public interest litigation filed by advocate Sayan Banerjee, raising concerns over the prolonged absence of student body elections in many institutions.
During the hearing, the state’s counsel submitted that elections were not being held due to the absence of permanent vice-chancellors in several universities.
The court, however, observed that many institutions do have vice-chancellors and still no elections have been held. The Bench reportedly said: “Educational institutions should remain free from politics.
Instead of political persons, educationists should be part of managing bodies of schools and colleges.”
The court noted that while the state has claimed its role is limited to issuing the election notification, it must first go ahead and do so.
“Let the state issue the notification first, the rest will be looked into by the court,” the court reportedly remarked, seeking a clarification from the government on its plan regarding the notification.
The next hearing has been scheduled after two weeks by which time the state is expected to clarify its stand on student union
elections notification.