Supreme Court extends SIR deadline in Bengal, warns any impediment to process
PTC News Desk: The Supreme Court on Monday warned the West Bengal government not to place any obstacles in the completion of the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of the electoral rolls, while assuring that genuine operational difficulties would be addressed. The court also granted a one-week extension for completing the scrutiny of applications under the Bengal SIR and for finalising the data.
Chief Justice of India Surya Kant underscored the court’s stance, saying, “We will remove hurdles, but we will not create any impediments in the completion of SIR. Let us be very clear about it.” The bench, which also included Justices Joymalya Bagchi and N.V. Anjaria, stressed that the revision process must continue as scheduled.
Appearing for the Election Commission of India (ECI), senior advocate D.S. Naidu raised serious concerns over the appointment of Electoral Registration Officers (EROs). He argued that EROs discharge quasi-judicial functions and therefore need sufficient adjudicatory experience.
Naidu informed the court that although the ECI had requested around 300 Group B officers, only 64 officers with the required experience were provided, while the remaining appointments were made based on pay parity. He contended that officers such as engineers lack the necessary expertise to take adjudicatory decisions under the SIR, which are subject to appeal before higher authorities.
The role of micro observers was also questioned during the hearing. Senior advocate Shyam Divan argued that large-scale deletion of voters’ names cannot be carried out through micro observers and cautioned against the risk of mass exclusion from electoral rolls.
- With inputs from agencies
