Uttarakhand HC ticks off officer for not speaking English, SC stays order

NEW DELHI: Supreme Court has stayed a Uttarakhand HC order ticking off an additional district magistrate for communicating in Hindi and inability to speak in English during hearing of a case on preparation of electoral roll for the three-tier panchayat elections in the state, reports Dhananjay Mahapatra.

Uttarakhand deputy advocate general Jatinder Kumar Sethi, appearing for the state election commissioner (SEC), said the HC erred in interfering with an election process at the eleventh hour, which the apex court has barred in its numerous rulings, and assailed the HC's caustic comments doubting the ability of the ADM to "effectively control an Executive post" just because of his inability to communicate in English.

A bench of Chief Justice B R Gavai and Justices K Vinod Chandran and N V Anjaria issued notices to the Uttarakhand govt, petitioner before the HC Akash Bora, and stayed the HC's July 18 order, thus allowing panchayat elections to be taken to its logical conclusion. It asked both respondents to file their responses in four weeks.

Questioning the efficiency of the ADM because he could not speak in English, the HC bench of Chief Justice G Narender and Justice Alok Mahra had said, "In the meanwhile, the state election commissioner and the chief secretary shall examine as to whether an officer of the cadre of additional district magistrate, who claims to have no knowledge of English or in his own words inability to convey in English, would be in a position to effectively control an Executive post."

The HC had also doubted the efficacy of reliance on family registers as a document by the electoral registration officer to finalise voters' list.

The SEC in his petition said, "The July 18 order is an arbitrary and shocking exercise to interfere in election process while dealing with a writ petition relating to a specific locality - Budhlakot Gram Sabha."