Bombay High Court denies interim relief to LIC in plea against assignment of staff for election duty

The Bombay High Court on Tuesday denied ad interim relief to the Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) in its petition contesting the requisitioning of nearly 70-80 per cent of its staff for election duties in the upcoming Maharashtra legislative assembly elections..A vacation Bench, comprising Justices Sandeep Marne and Manjusha Deshpande observed that there is prima facie no violation of the Representation of the People Act, 1951, nor of the precedent set in Thane Janta Sahakari Bank v. Election Commission of India in the requisitioning. The Court further held that the returning officer acted within the bounds of Section 159(1) of the Act in making the requisition, even though this provision gives the power to make such requisitions to the Chief Electoral Officer or Regional Commissioner."It would be too far fetched to hold that the Chief Electoral Officer would himself undertake the exercise of the requisite number of staff for every constituency. The correct reading of provision 159(1) would be that the returning officer shall decide the exact number of staff from the authorities enlisted in 159(2) deputed for election duties. In our view, therefore, prima facie there is no violation of the Judgment of division bench in Thane Janta Sahakari Bank," the Court explained. .LIC had contended that its employees were being selectively drafted for election duties, as staff of other banks and public sector undertakings (PSUs) were not similarly requisitioned. The vacation Bench noted that while this concern is valid, it cannot be fully assessed at this stage and indicated that this issue could be addressed by the regular Bench during further proceedings..The LIC had also contended that a disproportionate number of its employees were drafted for election duties, presenting data from Pune and Thane districts. Specifically, LIC argued that 688 of its employees were assigned to election-related duties in Pune district alone. The Court acknowledged this argument as well but noted that this was a fraction of the total number of government staff who were requisitioned for poll duty. "When this number of 688 is compared with 6768 government employees drafted for election duties only in Pune district, the number of deputation of LIC employees appears to be very skewed," the Court noted. .Notably, LIC admitted that similar requisitions were made during the last Lok Sabha elections in May, which the Court factored in while denying interim relief. Furthermore, the Court noted that the concerned LIC staff had already completed a training session for election duties, with additional training planned before the poll duties. It pointed out that out of 53 zonal officers nominated from various government departments, only one was from LIC.Considering these factors, the Court declined to grant any ad interim relief, "We are not inclined to grant any ad interim relief to the petitioners," the Court said today before listing the matter next on November 13, 2024.