Disappointed over rampant use of posters during election campaigns despite a ban, the National Green Tribunal (NGT) on Friday directed the chief election officer of the Delhi University Students’ Union (DUSU)to appear before it.
A Bench headed by NGT Chairperson Swatanter Kumar passed the order after noting that there was no DU representative present in court on Friday.
Further, the NGT said it would impose a fine on the officer if he fails to appear before the Tribunal for the next hearing.
Status report
The green panel also asked the university to file a status report on action taken against those who violated the directions.
The petition, filed through advocate Piyush Singh, said, “Every year in Delhi University Students’ Union [DUSU] and other student body elections, the quantity of paper wasted in canvassing and campaigning is huge, and the damage therein to the environment is irreparable. There is no accountability for usage of paper and neither is there any norm nor procedure for re-cycling of this waste paper.”
Further, the petition cited the Lyngdoh Committee guidelines, which recommended minimisation of use of paper. “No candidate shall be permitted to make use of printed posters, printed pamphlets or any other printed material for the purpose of canvassing,” the guidelines state.
In the plea filed by Nithin Chandran, a Delhi University law student, he said there was extensive use of posters all over the university campus. He added that this was in complete violation of the earlier directions made by the Tribunal.
Previous order
In a July 2016 order, the green panel had directed strict enforcement of the Lyngdoh Committee guidelines.
The order had further directed the DUSU chief election officer and DUSU to not allow the use of posters on campus and that only ‘candidates contesting the elections or their pre-notified student agents’ would be allowed to utilise handmade posters at certain notified places.
