IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE, ANDHRA PRADESH AT HYDERABAD (Special Original Jurisdiction) TUESDAY, THE NINTH DAY OF JUNE TWO THOUSAND AND NINE PRESENT THE HON'BLE MR JUSTICE GHULAM MOHAMMED and THE HON'BLE MR JUSTICE VILAS V. AFZULPURKAR WRIT PETITION NO : 8160 of 2009 Between: 1 Syed Mohammed Tanveeruddin, S/o. HSI Zabeehulla Shah, R/o. H.No. 20-6-240, Khuda Numa Manzil, Roop Lal Bazar, Hyderabad - 500 065. 2 Mohammed Ansari, S/o. Late Sanvar Mohiuddin, H.No. 1-7-131/A/1, Risale Kursheed Jaji, Zamistanpur (PO), Hyderabad - 500 020. ..... PETITIONERS AND 1 Election Commission of India, Nirwachan Sadan, New Delhi, Rep. by its Secretary. 2 Chief Electoral officer, Andhra Pradesh, Secretariat Buildings, Hyderabad. .....RESPONDENTS Petition under Article 226 of the constitution of India praying that in the circumstances stated in the Affidavit filed herein the High Court will be pleased to issue a Writ, Order or direction, more particularly, one in the nature of Writ of Mandamus declaring the inaction on the part of the respondents 1 and 2 in taking appropriate steps to provide basic amenities like drinking water, electricity and assistance to procure lunch etc. for the polling staff is unconstitutional and cosnequenty direct the respondents to take steps to provide basic amenities at the poling stations for the poling staff which is entrusted with the conducting of poling on the poling day in the present general elections. Counsel for the Petitioner: MR.K.S.MURTHY Counsel for the Respondent No.: MR.S.NIRANJAN REDDY The Court made the following : ORDER: (per Sri Ghulam Mohammed, J.) -- This Writ Petition is filed seeking Mandamus to declare the inaction on the part of the respondents 1 and 2 in taking appropriate steps to provide basic amenities like drinking water, electricity and assistance to procure lunch etc., for the polling staff as unconstitutional and consequently direct the respondents to take steps to provide basic amenities for the polling staff at the polling stations on the date of general elections. 2. The case of the petitioners is that the basic amenities are not being provided to the polling staff at the polling stations. When the first petitioner was given the duty of Presiding Officer at Polling Station-110 of Chandrayangutta-67 assembly constituency and the second petitioner was assigned polling duty at Polling station No.6 of 8 of Yakutpura assembly segment, they were shocked to see that minimum basic amenities were not provided at polling stations. The woman employees, who do not know the local terrain, are the worst effected. The polling staff has to attend to the polling stations one day in advance so as to make necessary arrangements and during the polling, polling staff cannot leave the polling stations to fetch water or eatables and on the date of polling, the entire hotels and shops are being closed causing great inconvenience to the polling staff. Even the payments made to the polling staff is not in consonance with the scales they draw as regular employees. When the petitioners interacted with several Presiding Officers, they came to know that in many places, the basic amenity of electricity was also not there. Particularly, in rural areas, the situation is worse for the woman staff, compared to the urban areas. At least on the date of polling, the local administration must be asked to keep the services of Anganwadi workers or village servants or local body class-IV employees to provide the basic amenities and to assist the non-local polling staff. There is an urgent need to attend the pathetic situation of the polling staff. Petitioners have made representations to the authority concerned, but no action was taken for providing the basic amenities. Unless this Hon’ble Court intervenes and issues appropriate directions to the respondents 1 and 2 to provide basic amenities, the polling staff would suffer irreparable loss and injury. 3. Several Presiding Officers filed the affidavits stating that on the date of polling, the facilities, as stated by the respondents, were not provided to the polling staff. The polling staff could not even procure food and water in time and many of them suffered a lot due to non- availability of the basic amenities. 4. The respondents filed a detailed counter-affidavit stating that with regard to compensation, the Election Commission of India’ Instruction No.44 vide letter No.464/INST/2009/EPS dated 09-01-2009 directs payment of Rs.250/-, Rs.175/- and Rs.100/- per day for Presiding Officers, Polling Officers and Class-IV employees respectively and the same instruction also directs provision of lunch or Rs.100/- in lieu of lunch to all the personnel drafted for polling duty. The Office of the Chief Electoral Officer, A.P., directed all the District Election Officers to comply with the said instruction vide Memo.No.2562/Elecs.C/A2/2009-1, dated 13-04-2009. It is further submitted that at each Polling Station one person was made responsible for getting food from the nearby places to the polling staff, upon payments. In this regard, a sum of Rs.100/- was given to each Polling Officer to meet their requirements for food. Further, dinner for the polling parties was provided on the date of polling at reception centers. On the date of polling i.e., on 16-04-2009, the following arrangements were made at all the 1546 polling stations within the 09-Hyderabad Parliamentary Constituency: i. Potable saches of drinking water/water cans were supplied by the agencies of Hyderabad Metro Water Supply and Sewerage Board. The Polling staff was provided break-fast and working lunch at every Distribution-cum-Reception center on the date of distribution i.e., on 15-04-2009 and on the day of poll, refreshments, drinking water and dinner were provided. ii. Sufficient number of toilets were provided with workers and cleaning material. iii. At each polling station, one sanitary worker had been posted to take care of cleanliness of the toilets and surrounding areas of the polling stations. iv. 146 Zonal Officers / Route Officers were appointed with transport facility to cover all the routes for 1546 polling stations in 09-Hyderabad Parliamentary Constituency. As per the instructions of Election Commission of India, Rs.100/- was paid to each Polling Officer towards refreshment & food. v. Wherever required furniture was not available, furniture was procured from the nearby tent houses and was adequately made available for all the polling stations. vi. Carpets were made available at each polling station for usage by the polling staff for sleeping. vii. The Zonal Officers and Route Officers within the Parliamentary Constituency were also instructed to assist the polling staff in procuring the food. viii. Workers were appointed at the polling stations apart from the watchman/worker of the building. The polling staff was asked to utilize their services. The Polling Staff was also given sundry expenses of Rs.20/- per polling station with an idea to enable them to utilize their services. It is further submitted that in respect of various other polling stations also instructions that have been issued by the Election Commission of India were taken note of by the District Election Officers and steps were taken for providing all the necessary amenities to the polling officers and polling staff. 5. This Court while issuing Mandamus cannot give a positive direction and this is not within the domain of the judiciary to run the administration, but it is for the authorities concerned who are the administrative heads to attend to the grievances, which the petitioners have ventilated. We are not able to understand how this petition is maintainable, in view of the submissions made in the counter-affidavit that they have taken necessary care and caution so as to provide all the facilities and since the petitioners have not filed any reply-affidavit to the counter-affidavit. Even assuming the facilities are inadequate, this Court cannot give any positive direction and at the best this Court can permit the petitioners to make comprehensive petition to the second respondent ventilating all their grievances. 6 . Accordingly, this Writ Petition is disposed of permitting the petitioners to make comprehensive petition to the second respondent ventilating all their grievances and on such petition being filed, the second respondent shall look into the same and see that grievances are being attended to and frame necessary guidelines in this regard and communicate the said order to the petitioners. No order as to costs. ____________________ GHULAM MOHAMMED, J. _____________________ VILAS V.AFZULPURKAR, J. 09th June, 2009. skmr