Supreme Court's big move over Bengal SIR! Odisha, Jharkhand judicial officers allowed to complete revision process

The court took the decision in view of the inadequate number of judicial officers in West Bengal to complete the revision process within the stipulated time frame.

The apex court also permitted civil judges from both senior and junior divisions, with at least three years of experience, to be deployed for the SIR exercise, in addition to district judges, to expedite the process.

Last week, the top court issued what it described as an “extraordinary order”, directing the Calcutta High Court to appoint judicial officers to assist West Bengal in completing the SIR of electoral rolls.

The move came amid a prolonged standoff between the state government and the Election Commission of India, which has stalled the voter roll clean-up exercise.

The top court said judicial officers would examine claims and objections arising from discrepancies identified during the revision process, noting that the exercise had reached an impasse.

‘Trust deficit’ between constitutional authorities

Chief Justice of India Surya Kant observed that the situation reflected a deepening lack of trust between two constitutional functionaries—the West Bengal government and the Election Commission.

“There is an unfortunate scenario of allegations and counter-allegations which shows a trust deficit,” the Chief Justice said, adding that the process had become stuck at the stage of adjudicating claims and objections from voters whose names appeared on discrepancy lists.

The court said it had been left with no alternative but to intervene, stressing that the order was necessitated by “extraordinary circumstances”.

Judges to handle claims and objections

Directing the Calcutta High Court to free up serving and even retired judicial officers of the rank of district judge, the Supreme Court said these officers could assist district authorities in disposing of pending claims linked to the SIR exercise.

To finalise the operational details, the court asked the State Election Commissioner, the state’s chief secretary, the director general of police and other senior officials to meet the Chief Justice of the Calcutta High Court the following day.

The bench noted that disputes had arisen over whether officers of appropriate rank had been deployed by the state to perform quasi-judicial functions as Electoral Registration Officers and Assistant Electoral Registration Officers.