The Supreme Court on Friday refused to entertain West Bengal’s objection to a training module circulated by the Election Commission of India (ECI) for judicial officers supervising the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in the state, relating to the adjudication of claims and objections to the names of persons appearing in the ‘logical discrepancies’ and ‘unmapped’ categories. The court said there was no reason for alarm and that the process must move forward.
Senior Advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for the state government, raised the issue through an urgent mentioning. He submitted that judicial officers had been given a module indicating what documents to consider and what not to consider, despite the Court’s earlier order stating that the modalities would be decided by the Chief Justice of the Calcutta High Court.
The Bench of Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi, however, made it clear that the judicial officers would function independently. “Please do not make small excuses to stall the process. This has to end. Let judicial officers work. They will work independently,” CJI Surya Kant said.
The Court observed that the task assigned to judicial officers was not part of their usual judicial work and that some coordination by the ECI to familiarise them with the procedure was not unusual. Justice Bagchi remarked that the Court’s earlier orders were clear and that any ECI instructions could not override them. The judicial officers have been asked to carry out tasks that are completely alien to their usual course of work and training, the Bench said.
Sibal further alleged that certain identity documents permitted by earlier court orders were not being accepted, including domicile certificates issued by Sub-Divisional Officers. The Bench responded that if any document allowed under the notification or its orders was being wrongly rejected, it would examine the matter.
Sibal also flagged that even the State’s Chief Secretary had been asked to establish her credentials during the SIR exercise. The Court, however, said it would not pass further directions at this stage and noted that almost the entire State judiciary had been engaged in the process.
Justice Bagchi asked the ECI to ensure that supplementary electoral lists are uploaded as and when updated.