Eligible voters can’t be punished if college commits an error: HC

  • | Thursday | 23rd November, 2017

"We find that for an error committed by NU, the petitioners can't be deprived of their valuable right of being a voter. If the college commits an error, an eligible voter can't be penalized for the same. Nagpur: Nagpur bench of Bombay High Court has ruled that eligible voters can't be punished if college commits an error.Coming to the rescue of nine Wardha teachers, a specially constituted bench comprising justices Bhushan Gavai and Swapna Joshi, directed the Nagpur University (NU) to include their names in the voter's list for upcoming elections on Saturday. They pointed out that the petitioners raised objections within five days of the provisional list being published. Since the entire form filling process was made online, they're supposed to upload their forms through the college's login on NU portal before September 13.

Nagpur: Nagpur bench of Bombay High Court has ruled that eligible voters can't be punished if college commits an error.Coming to the rescue of nine Wardha teachers, a specially constituted bench comprising justices Bhushan Gavai and Swapna Joshi, directed the Nagpur University (NU) to include their names in the voter's list for upcoming elections on Saturday."We find that for an error committed by NU, the petitioners can't be deprived of their valuable right of being a voter. If the college commits an error, an eligible voter can't be penalized for the same. It is not NU's case the petitioners are not entitled to be included in the list," the judges said, while quashing NU's vice chancellor SP Kane's decision of October 12 and 16, to reject their appeals.The petitioners — Yogesh Muneshwar, Niranjan Bhramane, Arvind Patil, Ravindra Sahare, Sonali Khandekar and Kalpana Bandiwar — challenged registrar Puran Meshram's order of October 5 rejecting their objections on not including their names in the electoral list.All the petitioners from Aniket College of Social Work (ACSW) in Wardha had applied for inclusion of their names into the voters list for Senate, Academic Council and Board of Studies (BOS) polls. Since the entire form filling process was made online, they're supposed to upload their forms through the college's login on NU portal before September 13. However, the college management failed to complete the formalities and therefore, their names weren't reflected in the list of over 5,000 teachers.The teachers then filed objections to the voters list with Meshram, who is also the returning officer for the polls. After rejection of their objections and subsequent appeals, they knocked judiciary's doors.NU counsel Purushottam Patil contended that as per rules, it was mandatory for the college to submit information online before the deadline.The judges however observed that Clauses 11, 14 and 15 of NU rules provided that colleges must submit a hard copy of the voter's list in addition to the online submission. They pointed out that the petitioners raised objections within five days of the provisional list being published."The very purpose for providing Clauses 14 and 15 is to consider the objection regarding inclusion/exclusion of the voters in the list," the court said, before allowing their petitions.Meshram told TOI that he had issued instruction to include petitioners names in the electoral list after HC 's orders.

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