SC Allows Deployment of Judicial Officers from Jharkhand, Odisha for Claim Verification
New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Tuesday allowed the chief judge of the Calcutta High Court to appoint civil judges and also request judicial officers from neighboring Jharkhand and Odisha to deal with 80 lakh claims and objections in the ongoing Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls in West Bengal. A bench comprising Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justices Joymalya Bagchi and Vipul M Pancholi took note of a letter from the chief justice of the Calcutta High Court saying that 250 district judges have been posted in the district. The Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise will take approximately 80 days to deal with claims and objections.
Considering the dire situation and time constraint, the bench allowed the appointment of civil judges to conduct the process.
He asked the chief justice of the Calcutta High Court to request his Jharkhand and Odisha counterparts and request judicial officers of similar ranks to look into the situation.
He directed the Election Commission (EC) to bear the expenses related to the deployment of judicial officers from Jharkhand and Odisha.
The top court also allowed the EC to publish the final electoral rolls on February 28 and clarified that the poll panel may publish additional lists as the verification process progresses.
The commission used general powers under Article 142 to register voters in additional electoral registers to be part of the February 28 final list published by the poll panel.
Logical inconsistencies in the connection of generations to the 2002 voter list include instances of mismatch in parent’s name and the age difference between the voter and his or her parents being less than 15 or more than 50 years.
On February 20, dismayed by the ongoing tussle between the West Bengal government and the EC, the top court issued an “extraordinary” order directing incumbent and former district judges to assist the poll panel in implementing the controversial SIR in the state.
Ruining the “unfortunate blame game” and “trust deficit” between the EC and the “democratically elected” Trinamool Congress government in Bengal, the bench issued a set of fresh instructions to ensure completion of SIR implementation.
