SC orders deployment of district court judges to oversee Bengal SIR

NEw new delhi: The sublime margaret court on fri directed the deployment of serving and retired dominion court judges in West Bengal to adjudicate disputed voter claims in the ongoing special intensive revision (SIR) of electoral roll, in an unprecedented exercise of its constitutional powers, and stepping into what it described as an “unfortunate blame game” between the Trinamool Congress-led state government and the Election Commission of India (ECI).Calling the situation “extraordinary”, a bench comprising Chief Justice of India Surya Kant and justices Joymalya Bagchi and Vipul M Pancholi said that it was left with “hardly any choice” other than requesting the chief justice of the Calcutta high court to spare serving as well as retired judicial officers in the rank of additional district judge and district judge to revisit and dispose of claims falling under the “logical discrepancy” category.“These directions are issued in the extraordinary situation invoking our powers under Article 142 of the Constitution of India,” clarified the bench, underscoring that the order was not to be treated as precedent.Also Read | SC's extraordinary order on Bengal SIR amid ‘unfortunate blame game’: District judges to aid processAt the heart of the controversy lies the adjudication of claims and objections filed by voters whose names were flagged under “logical discrepancies” - a category covering nearly 13.6 million electors.Under the SIR exercise, “logical discrepancies” are categorised into seven types, including cases of voters mapped to more than six progeny; age gaps under 15 years with parents; individuals aged over 45 missing from the 2002 rolls; mismatches in fathers’ names between the 2002 and 2005 lists; age gaps under 40 years with grandparents; age gaps over 50 years with parents; and gender mismatches with the 2002 list.“The SIR process has not entered into the phase of claims and objections who have entered into the bracket of logical discrepancies…there is an unfortunate blame game, allegations and counter allegations which clearly depict the case of trust deficit between the two constitutional functionaries, namely democratically elected state government and the ECI,” the bench said.The final voter roll for the politically crucial eastern state is slated to be published on February 28. High-stakes assembly elections are set to follow weeks later. The draft roll, published last year, shed 5.8 million names.Most electors in this category, the court noted, had submitted supporting documents to justify inclusion in the voter roll. These claims are required to be adjudicated by Electoral Registration Officers (EROs), who discharge quasi-judicial functions under election law.However, a dispute arose over whether the state had provided officers of appropriate rank, specifically Group A officers in substantive ranks of sub-divisional officers (SDOs) or sub-divisional magistrates (SDMs). During the hearing, the bench expressed disappointment. “We are disappointed to see that the state hasn’t provided required officers…isn’t the state obligated to provide officers for the rank of EROs?” the court asked.Senior advocates Kapil Sibal and Menaka Guruswamy, appearing for West Bengal, submitted that the state did not have enough Group A and B officers. “We don’t have that many,” they said.The court was unimpressed. “Then that’s what should have been said in your response to the ECI…these officers are required and obligated under the law to pass orders which are quasi-judicial in nature. You can’t have a clerk promoted and then say that officer will deal with these matters,” it observed.The bench added pointedly: “We cannot let an incompetent person decide the fate of people in this process.”Faced with what it described as “hesitancy” and “stalemate on both sides”, the court opted for judicial oversight. “In order to ensure fairness in the adjudication of the genuineness of documents relied upon and consequential determination of inclusion or exclusion in the voter list… we are left with hardly any option but to request the chief justice of the Calcutta high court to spare some serving as well as some retired judicial officers,” the court order stated.