HC Issues Notice To Odisha Govt Over Cancellation Of Students’ Union Elections For 6th Year

Cuttack: The Orissa High Court here on Thursday issued notice to Odisha government over cancellation of students’ union election in different universities and educational institutions in the state. 

Hearing a petition filed by Akhil Bharatiya Bidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), the bench of Acting Chief Justice BR Sarangi and Justice Murahari Sri Raman directed Chief Secretary, Higher Education, Mass Education secretaries and Higher Education Director to submit replies within one week. 

“The state government has failed to conduct elections in varsities and colleges for last 5 years despite the Supreme Court endorsing J M Lyngdoh Commission recommendations and directing for their implementation,” said a lawyer representing ABVP.

The apex court had in clear terms held that universities and colleges across the country must ordinarily conduct elections for the appointment of students to student representative bodies, he added.

While seeking direction from the state government to issue necessary notification for conducting students’ union elections in the state universities and government as well as non-government aided colleges for the academic session 2023-24, the petitioner had contended that the cancellation of elections since 2019 was an infringement of their fundamental rights. While the state government had earlier stated that the decision to cancel elections was taken in the larger interest of the student community, the petitioner submitted that cancelling it indefinitely is highly arbitrary and ‘lacks reason’.

Notably, the common academic calendar for the academic session of 2023-24 for universities and colleges, released by the Higher Education department last month, mentioned nothing about the elections, which have not taken place in the state since 2018.  Usually, the elections were held prior to Durga Puja vacations. In this academic session, the vacations have been notified from October 21 to 28. But before that, no date has been set aside for the students union elections. The mid-semester examinations for both UG and PG have been scheduled from the last week of October.

Also Read: No Students’ Union Elections In Colleges & Varsities Of Odisha For 6th Consecutive Year!