By Arun Pratap Singh
Nainital, 24 Oct: The Uttarakhand High Court today heard a PIL filed regarding conduct of student union elections in state universities and colleges. Hearing the case, a division bench comprising Acting Chief Justice Manoj Kumar Tiwari and Justice Vivek Bharti Sharma disposed of the PIL based on a government order.
The Court agreed with the government’s contention that the time for holding elections to the students’ unions in the current session has lapsed. The court stated that there will be no elections for students’ unions during the current academic session in the state universities and affiliated colleges.
The government stated that it had issued a directive on 23 April 2024, mandating that students’ union elections be held by 30 September. However, the universities did not comply with that order, and the deadline for conducting the elections has now passed. The Government further contended that, after the deadline, it is not possible to conduct students’ union elections now without affecting the studies and, on this basis, the court disposed of the PIL.
During the hearing, the petitioners argued that the government was not successful in implementing its own orders and that the recommendations of the Lyngdoh Committee were violated. The petitioners further argued that not holding elections is a ‘violation of democratic rights’. The petitioner pleaded that the government should withdraw its order and conduct the elections.
The Lyngdoh Committee’s report recommends that elections should be held within eight weeks of admission to avoid disrupting students’ studies later. It may be recalled that Dehradun resident and social activist Mahipal Singh had filed a PIL in the High Court. He had through his counsels argued that the state government had issued an academic calendar on 23 April 2024, instructing student union elections to be conducted by 30 September 2024. Despite this, the university administrations did not hold the elections on time nor did the government remind them to conduct the elections, which was a violation of the recommendations of the Lyngdoh Committee.
