Disposed¶22

Archana Chaudhary v. State of U.P. and 5 Others

Allahabad HC28 Aug 2025WRIA/12689/2025

Case brief

AI extract

What is this about?

Teacher election duty; Booth Level Officer (BLO) appointment; release of teacher's salary conditional on discharging BLO duty; Writ-A 12689 of 2025 disposed in terms of Ritu Singh v State of U.P. (2025:AHC:176959) [followed]; relies on Division Bench judgment Nirbhay Singh v State of U.P. (Writ-A No. 26204 of 2021, decided 11.08.2022) answering: deployment permissible even before election notification including electoral roll revision (Q1 positive); no deployment on teaching days/during teaching hours, permitted on non-teaching days/hours (Q2 negative); Section 27, Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009.

What did the court decide?

Petitioner directed to discharge her duties as Booth Level Officer also, so that her salary be released. ¶22

Archana Chaudhary vs State of U.P. and 5 Others — Allahabad HC (2025) — LawSathi Research

What the court decided

AI extract

Outcome

Petitioner directed to discharge her duties as Booth Level Officer also, so that her salary be released.

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Issue for consideration

Whether teachers can be appointed/deployed to undertake duties of Booth Level Officer (including election-related work such as electoral roll revision before issuance of the election notification), subject to the caveat that such duty must not interfere with their regular teaching duties and must not fall on teaching days or during teaching hours. +1 more

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Court's answer

Since the controversy involved in the writ petition is squarely covered by the judgment in Ritu Singh and others vs. State of U.P. and others (2025:AHC:176959), the writ petition is disposed of in terms of that judgment.

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Ratio / Principle

Petitioner is directed to discharge her duties as Booth Level Officer also, so that her salary be released.

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Detailed headnote1 paragraphs

High Court of Judicature at Allahabad (Saurabh Shyam Shamshery, J.), Writ-A No. 12689 of 2025, decided October 8, 2025: writ petition of petitioner Archana Chaudhary regarding discharge of duties as Booth Level Officer and release of salary was disposed of in terms of this Court's judgment in Ritu Singh and others vs. State of U.P. and others (2025:AHC:176959), having been found to squarely cover the controversy; the petitioner was directed to discharge her duties as Booth Level Officer also so that her salary be released. Judgment reproduced within this decision records that teachers can be appointed to undertake duties of Booth Level Officer provided such duty does not interfere with or disturb their regular duties as Teacher, and takes note of the Division Bench judgment in Nirbhay Singh and others vs. State of U.P. and others (Writ-A No. 26204 of 2021, decided 11.08.2022), wherein Question No.1 was answered in the positive (teachers may be deployed for election duty, including electoral roll revision work, even before issuance of the election notification to a Local Body, State Assembly or Parliament, engaging Section 27 of the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009) and Question No.2 in the negative (teachers shall not be deployed during teaching days or teaching hours, but may be deployed on non-teaching days and non-teaching hours); that judgment is binding on the State-Respondents.

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HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT ALLAHABAD

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WRIT - A No. - 12689 of 2025

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Archana Chaudhary

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	Versus	.....Petitioner(s)
State Of U.P. And 5 Others		.....Respondent(s)
Counsel for Petitioner(s) Counsel for Respondent(s)	: Girish Chandra Shukla, : C.S.C.	Utkarsh Malviya

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Court No. - 32

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HON'BLE SAURABH SHYAM SHAMSHERY, J.

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Heard Sri Jayant Prakash, learned counsel for petitioner and Sri Santosh Kumar, learned Standing Counsel for State-Respondents.

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Learned counsel for parties, at the outset, submits that the controversy involved in present writ petition is squarely covered by the judgment passed by this Court in Ritu Singh and others vs. State of U.P. and others, 2025:AHC:176959, which is reproduced hereinafter:

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" 1. Heard Sri Ramesh Singh, learned counsel for petitioners and Sri Dhananjay Singh, learned Standing Counsel for State-Respondents.

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It is not under much dispute that Teachers can be appointed to undertake duties of Booth Level Officer, however, there is a caveat that such duty may not interfere or disturb their regular duties as Teacher.

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At this stage, Court also takes note of a judgment passed by a Division Bench of this Court in the case of Nirbhay Singh and others vs. State of U.P. and others (Writ-A No. 26204 of 2021), decided on 11.08.2022, wherein following two questions referred were answered in following manner:

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QUESTIONS

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"(1) Whether the provisions of Section 27 of the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009 permit the deployment of teachers to do any kind of duties relating to elections before the issue of an election notification relating to a Local Body, a State Assembly or the Parliament under appropriate provisions of the law?

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WRIA No. 12689 of 2025

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(2) Whether before or after the issue of notifications relating to elections to a Local Body, a State Assembly or the Parliament, can teachers be deployed to any kind of election-related work on teaching days or during teaching hours?"

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ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS

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" 29. Question No.1 is answered in positive holding that the teachers can be deployed for election duty even before issuance of the notification relating to election to a Local Body, a State Assembly or the Parliament which includes work for revision of electoral roll.

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Question No.2 is answered in negative holding that the teachers cannot be deployed during teaching days or teaching hours but can be on nonteaching days and non-teaching hours."

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The aforesaid judgment is binding on State-Respondents, therefore, they have to strictly comply the same and they cannot assign any duty to a Teacher which could be against the answer given in aforesaid judgment, i.e., Teachers shall not be deployed during teaching days or teaching hours.

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With aforesaid observations, this writ petition is disposed of."

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In view of above, this writ petition is accordingly disposed of in terms of judgment passed by this Court in Ritu Singh (supra). Petitioner is directed to discharge her duties as Booth Level Officer also, so that her salary be released.

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October 8, 2025 AK

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(Saurabh Shyam Shamshery,J.)

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Digitally signed by :- AWADESH KUMAR High Court of Judicature at Allahabad

Archana Chaudhary v. State of U.P. and 5 Others

Case brief

What is this about?

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Archana Chaudhary v. State of U.P. and 5 Others

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