Calcutta High Court Asks SIR Tribunal To Expeditiously Decide Agniveer Recruit's Appeal Over Voter Roll Deletion

The Calcutta High Court has directed the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) Appellate Tribunal at Cooch Behar to expeditiously decide the appeal of an Agniveer recruitment candidate whose name was deleted from the electoral roll during the SIR exercise, after noting that the State would issue his Police Clearance Certificate (PCC) only after the appeal is disposed of.Justice Bivas Pattanayak, sitting at the Circuit Bench at Jalpaiguri, disposed of the writ petition filed by Akash Sarkar, who had sought directions for early disposal of his pending SIR appeal and for issuance of a PCC required for joining the Indian Army as an Agniveer.The petitioner submitted that he had successfully cleared the Agniveer recruitment process and was required to submit a Police Clearance Certificate having a validity of six months before joining service. Although he had earlier obtained a PCC dated November 15, 2025, the police allegedly declined to process his fresh application after his name was deleted from the electoral roll during the SIR exercise.Appearing for the petitioner, Advocate Biprojyoti Bhowmik argued that deletion of a person's name from the electoral roll during the SIR process has no bearing on citizenship and therefore cannot be a ground to withhold issuance of a PCC. Reliance was placed on the Supreme Court's orders in Association for Democratic Reforms v. Election Commission of India (W.P. (C) No. 640 of 2025) and Mostari Banu v. Election Commission of India (W.P. (C) No. 1089 of 2025).It was also pointed out that both the petitioner and his father, Faruk Sarkar, had already challenged the deletion of their names by filing separate appeals before the SIR Appellate Tribunal, which were awaiting adjudication.The State opposed immediate issuance of the PCC. Appearing for the State, Assistant Additional Advocate General Jagriti Mishra submitted that until the SIR appeal was decided, the police authorities could not issue the certificate. It was further submitted that the SIR Appellate Tribunal was regularly disposing of such appeals.Counsel for the Election Commission of India also supported expeditious disposal of the pending appeals and relied on an earlier coordinate bench decision in Akul Sk v. Election Commission of India (WPA 10421 of 2026).Recording that the petitioner's application for a PCC had been made on June 3, 2026, and that the appeals against deletion from the electoral roll were still pending, the Court noted the State's assurance that the PCC would be issued expeditiously in accordance with law after disposal of the SIR appeal and completion of necessary verification.Accordingly, the Court requested the SIR Appellate Tribunal to dispose of the petitioner's appeal dated April 1, 2026, and his father's appeal dated April 2, 2026, as expeditiously as possible.The Court clarified that since no affidavits had been invited, the allegations contained in the writ petition would be deemed not to have been admitted.Case: Akash Sarkar v. Union of India & Ors., Case No: WPA 928 of 2026Click here to read order

Calcutta High Court Asks SIR Tribunal To Expeditiously Decide Agniveer Recruit's Appeal Over Voter Roll Deletion

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Calcutta High Court Asks SIR Tribunal To Expeditiously Decide Agniveer Recruit's Appeal Over Voter Roll Deletion

Srinjoy Das

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