The Supreme Court on Tuesday permitted the Calcutta High Court Chief Justice to deploy civil judges and requisition judicial officers from neighbouring Jharkhand and Odisha to handle nearly 80 lakh claims and objections arising from the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in West Bengal. The Court also allowed the Election Commission (EC) to publish the final electoral roll on February 28, with liberty to issue supplementary lists as verification continues.
A Bench comprising Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justices Joymalya Bagchi and Vipul M. Pancholi passed the directions after taking note of a communication from the Calcutta High Court Chief Justice stating that 250 district judges already deployed for the SIR exercise would require around 80 days to complete the adjudication of claims and objections.
Considering the magnitude of the task and time constraints, the Court permitted the deployment of civil judges to assist in the process. It further directed the Calcutta High Court Chief Justice to request his counterparts in Jharkhand and Odisha to requisition judicial officers of equivalent rank to aid the exercise.
The Bench directed that the expenses for deputing judicial officers from Jharkhand and Odisha shall be borne by the Election Commission.
The Court allowed the EC to publish the final electoral roll on February 28. At the same time, it clarified that supplementary electoral rolls may be issued as the ongoing verification process progresses.
Invoking its plenary powers under Article 142 of the Constitution, the Court ordered that voters whose claims are accepted through the supplementary process shall be treated as part of the February 28 final roll.
The Court noted that the SIR exercise involved large-scale scrutiny, including logical discrepancies in “progeny linking” with the 2002 voter list. These included mismatches in parents’ names and anomalies such as age differences between a voter and a parent being less than 15 years or more than 50 years.
On February 20, the Supreme Court had expressed concern over the ongoing dispute between the West Bengal government and the Election Commission, describing it as an “unfortunate blame game” reflecting a “trust deficit” between the constitutional authority and the “democratically elected” state government.
At that stage, the Court had issued what it termed an “extraordinary” direction for the deployment of serving and former district judges to assist the EC in the SIR exercise to ensure timely completion.
