Kolkata: Calcutta High Court on Thursday said that educationists should be placed in the governing bodies of state colleges and schools rather than politicians. The HC also asked the state to inform it on students’ union election notification within two weeks.

The division bench of justices Soumen Sen and Smita Das De is hearing two separate PILs on student election. One concerns the use of union rooms in the absence of any active unions in state colleges and varsities, and the other addresses the long delay in conducting student polls in the state.

The state, represented by Kalyan Bandopadhyay, argued in an earlier hearing that many state varsities do not have permanent VCs. It was also stated that the state’s role was limited to issuing the notification for the elections. To this, the HC remarked that the state should issue the notification first, and the rest would be taken care of by the court.

Bandopadhyay argued that the state had no objection to holding polls. Justice Sen said educational institutions should be free from politics and that educationists should be placed in the governing bodies of schools and colleges instead of politicians.

Regarding the state universities not having permanent VCs, the bench stated that many do have VCs, so why are there no elections there? Senior advocate Bandopadhyay submitted that the process of recommending the standing committee to appoint VCs is underway in some universities. They have interim VCs who, according to the SC order, do not have the power to decide on policy; hence, elections cannot be held.

Earlier, in March, the division bench of Chief Justice T S Sivagnanam sought an affidavit from the state on the issue. A two-week timeframe was set at that time. The state govt and higher education dept were directed to inform the court of their stand on conducting the elections.

The PIL was filed by advocate Sayan Banerjee regarding the state not conducting student union polls for many years. The case was also heard on Thursday, and the judge made a verbal remark on the need for a timeline from the state as to when they intend to hold the union elections. In this case, the state was asked to file a comprehensive report by July 16.

The last union election in majority of state colleges was held in 2017, while in Presidency University and Jadavpur University, it was held in 2019 and 2020, respectively. It was also highlighted in court that despite there not being any elected union, various activities under its name were being carried out.