The Supreme Court will soon decide whether schoolteachers should be deployed on public duties other than teaching, like those related to elections or census.

The apex court will decide the issue while delivering its verdict on an appeal by the Election Commission, challenging a 2004 ruling of the Delhi High Court, banning deployment of schoolteachers for election-related duties.

The verdict was reserved Friday by a bench of Justices S.B. Sinha and H.S. Bedi after conclusion of arguments by the poll panel, which requested the apex court to lift the ban.

The high court had banned deploying schoolteachers in election duties, including the revision of electoral rolls, which continues round the year and year after year.

The high court had given its verdict on a petition by St Mary's School, contending that asking teachers to do poll duties as also to carry out census operations adversely affects studies in schools.

The poll panel urged the apex court to reverse the high court ruling saying that if the age-old practice of using government school teachers was discontinued, the poll body would face a severe logistic problem and manpower crunch in carrying out the gigantic exercise critical to Indian democracy.

A battery of senior advocates, including senior counsel K.K. Venugopal, Election Commission counsel Minaxi Arora and Election Commission legal consultant and its former principal secretary S.K. Mendirata told the bench that various statutory provisions, including the Representation of the People Act, 1950 and 1951, mandate the commission to deploy various government officials including government schoolteachers for election related duties.

Arora said it was in public interest to "reconcile the conflicting situations" to protect the interest of students along with the commission's efforts to hold "effective elections".

She contended that the high court was wrong in imposing a blanket ban on the utilisation of services of schoolteachers as both school buildings and schoolteachers form an essential logistical and manpower ingredient in conduct of elections.

She said the commission could not have any objection to the high court order had it given some leverage to the panel in deciding to deploy teachers during non-teaching hours or weekends.

She sought to assure the apex court bench that the poll panel would "try as far as possible" to deploy teachers during non-teaching hours and weekends.

"But outright banning the use of their services for poll duties was wrong," said Arora, adding that the commission should be given full freedom to utilise the services of non-teaching staff, like physical education instructors, whose services could be utilised even during working days and school hours.

She said even other government departments, like the New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC) and others, supported the Election Commission assessment that employees from other government departments alone would not suffice for the conduct of the elections without schoolteachers.

The original public interest lawsuit, filed before the high court, had contended that massive deployment of schoolteachers on non-teaching duties like those for elections, census and pulse polio programmes were affecting studies.

The lawsuit contended that out of about 200 teaching days in a year, government schools generally had about 100 teaching days. As a result, the pass percentage in government schools was 26 compared to 86 in private schools.