WB SIR | 'Will Take 80 Days With Only Bengal Judges' : Supreme Court Allows Deployment Of Judges From Odisha & Jharkhand

The Supreme Court today allowed judicial officers from Odisha and Jharkhand also to be deployed to decide the claims and objections in the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) process in West Bengal, in view of the insufficient number of judges in West Bengal to adjudicate matters in a time-bound manner.The bench also allowed Civil Judges, both of Senior Division and Junior Division, having at least 3 years of experience, to be used for the SIR work, in addition to the judges in the rank of District Judges.Last week, the Court had directed the deployment of judicial officers in West Bengal, either serving or retired, in the rank of District Judges/Addl District Judges, for the SIR work, in view of the 'trust deficit' between the State Government and the Election Commission of India.Today, the Chief Justice of India referred to a letter received from the Chief Justice of the Calcutta High Court on February 22. There are 50 lakh cases of logical discrepancy/unmapped categories to be decided, and 250 judicial officers are available for the duties. Even if one officer decides 250 matters a day, it will take at least 80 days to complete the process.Taking note of this, the bench comprising Chief Justice of India Surya Kant, Justices Joymalya Bagchi and Vipul M Pancholi expanded the catchment area of judicial officers who can be deputed. The bench passed the following directions :In addition to the judicial officers already assigned the tasks, the Chief Justice of the High Court would be entitled to draw officers from the rank of Civil Judges (Senior Division) and Civil Judges (Junior Division) who have experience of not less than three years.If the Hon'ble CJ of the Calcutta High Court is of the opinion that further human resources are required, he is at liberty to approach the learned Chief Justices of the High Courts of Jharkhand and Orissa to provide serving or retired judicial officers from those states of similar rank. Their travel, honorarium and other expenses shall be borne by the ECI. The CJs of Jharkhand and Orissa HCs are requested to sympathetically and urgently consider the request made by the Calcutta HC CJ.For streamlining the nature of work, we clarify that the verification shall be with respect to documents referred to in (a) notification dated October 24 declaring the commencement of SIR in WB read with the June notification (b) the order passed by this Court on September 8, 2025 whereby Aadhaar card was allowed to be accepted and (c) order passed by this Court on January 19, 2026 whereby Maadhyamik (Class X) admit card and Maadhyamik pass certificate was also allowed to be submitted. We direct that all such documents, whether submitted electronically or physically, on or before the cut-off date of February 14, 2026, be considered.It shall be the entire responsibility of EROs/AEROs to satisfy the judicial officers of the documents referred above.The last date of publication of the final electoral roll is February 28, 2026. If the verification exercise undertaken in respect of logical discrepancies /unmapped remains incomplete, the ECI may publish the final list, followed by supplement lists. Such supplement lists shall be published on continous basis as soon as the pending exercise is completed. We deem it appropriate to invoke our powers under Article 142 and declare that the voters enlisted in such subsequent supplementary list shall be deemed to have been part of the final list published on February 28, 2026.Senior Advocates Kapil Sibal, Kalyan Bandhopadhyay, Gopal Sankaranarayanan, and Menaka Guruswamy appeared for the State, TMC and other petitioners.When Bandhopadhyay raised a concern that officers from other States may not be versent in Bengali, the bench observed that it has taken into account the historical fact that regions of Jharkhand and Odisha were earlier parts of Bengal.Senior Advocate Dama Seshadri Naidu appeared for the ECI.To recap, on the last date, given a "trust deficit" between the West Bengal government and the ECI, the Court directed appointment of judicial officers for the adjudication of claims and objections in the SIR process of the state. Publication of the final list of voters, so far as the process is completed, was allowed on the scheduled date of February 28. The Court said that the ECI can publish supplementary lists after the final date. The Court also directed the WB Director General of Police to file a supplementary affidavit on the steps taken on complaints regarding threats to SIR officers.BackgroundEarlier this month, the Court issued a slew of directions with respect to SIR in West Bengal. It directed the State to make available to the Election Commission of India Group B officers for SIR duties, who can replace the micro-observers deployed by the ECI. The Court also clarified that final orders on claims and objections can be passed only by the Electoral Registration Officers (ERO), and that the micro-observers can only assist them.It further directed the...

WB SIR | 'Will Take 80 Days With Only Bengal Judges' : Supreme Court Allows Deployment Of Judges From Odisha & Jharkhand

Debby Jain

The Court allowed ECI to publish the final voter list with decided claims on February 28, followed by supplementary lists.

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