SC sets up judicial tribunals to hear Bengal SIR appeals | India News
NEW DELHI: Invoking exclusive Article 142 powers, the Supreme Court on Tuesday ordered the constitution of a tribunal comprising retired chief justice and former judges of Calcutta and neighboring high courts to decide appeals against orders of judicial officers rejecting claims for inclusion in the Bengal electoral roll after special intensive revision.A bench of CJI Surya Kant and Justices R Mahadevan and Jayamalya Bagchi stuck to its order that no bureaucrat acting as ERO sit in appeal against the verdict of judicial officers drafted to scan 60 lakh voter documents in ‘logical inconsistencies’ and ‘unmapped’ categories.Cal HC CJ Ex CJ, Judge Designate: SC The SC gave a free hand to the Chief Justice of the Calcutta High Court to nominate former Chief Justices and judges and directed the EC to inform the tribunal in consultation with the Chief Justice of the High Court and the retired Chief Justice.The CJI-led bench took exception to a raft of petitions by TMC supporters and private individuals regarding SIR work and proceedings, dismissed the petitions and warned of contempt action if such attempts were made in future.The SC also expressed displeasure over the delay in generation of secured IDs for judicial officers by the EC and said, “a stage has come where we have doubts about the authenticity of both the state government and the EC.” It asked the EC to ensure that there is no delay in the production of IDs for judicial officers.The CJI said that the Calcutta High Court CJ told the SC that more than 500 judicial officers in Bengal and 200 in Jharkhand and Odisha were working seven days a week and disposed of more than 10 lakh claim petitions.At the beginning of the hearing, senior advocate Menaka Guruswamy tried to press for the petition in absence of an appellate forum for voters whose claims have been rejected by judicial officers. SC said, “As CJI, I will not dare anyone to question the work of judicial officers. I am issuing a warning.”It was advocate Kalyan Banerjee who raised the allegations and said that when 10 lakh claims have been decided, why is the EC not releasing the supplementary voter list directed by the SC, containing the names of those whose claims have been accepted?Banerjee also said that the rejection of the claim must be accompanied by reasons enabling the aggrieved person to appeal against it before a particular forum. The bench asked both the state government and the EC to ensure that the judicial officers, who are acting as agents of the SC, conduct their work smoothly.“We have taken a lot of risk to entrust the work of SIR to judicial officers, who are working tirelessly. But the risk is worth it as it (formulation of voter list) is crucial for free and fair elections. Citizens have a constitutional right to be included in the voter list, but not infiltrators and illegal immigrants,” said the CJI.
