Retired Calcutta High Court Judge Justice Indrajit Chatterjee, who is presiding over an appellate tribunal hearing appeals arising from the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in West Bengal, has offered to resign from the tribunal with effect from November 2, citing the long daily commute between his residence in Salt Lake and the tribunal at Joka.

Justice Chatterjee has written to Calcutta High Court Chief Justice Ravindra Vithalrao Ghuge, and West Bengal Chief Electoral Officer Neelam Meena, stating that the journey to and from the tribunal, amid poor road conditions and heavy traffic, had made it difficult for him to continue.

According to The Times of India, Justice Chatterjee has to travel around 70 km every day between his residence and the tribunal office. The journey takes roughly four hours in total, with the judge leaving his home around 9.30 am and reaching home at around 7 pm after completing his work.

“It is impossible to work under such conditions and do justice to the mammoth responsibilities bestowed on us,” Justice Chatterjee wrote in his letter, according to the report.

Justice Chatterjee is presiding over the Appellate Tribunal dealing with appeals from the district of Murshidabad. The report states that around 7.47 lakh appeals from Murshidabad were still pending before his tribunal.

The SIR appellate tribunals were constituted to hear appeals relating to inclusion and exclusion of names from the electoral rolls following the revision exercise. The tribunals began functioning in April after directions concerning the appellate mechanism.

Justice Chatterjee's proposed resignation comes amid a substantial pendency of SIR-related appeals before the appellate tribunals in West Bengal. Reports have put the overall pendency across the tribunals at several million appeals.

The judge's resignation, if it takes effect, would further reduce the number of retired High Court judges handling SIR-related appeals in the State, after former Calcutta High Court Chief Justice TS Sivagnanam resigned from the tribunal earlier this year.