New Delhi: The Supreme Court Tuesday directed the Election Commission of India (ECI) to issue a notification in consultation with the Chief Justice of Calcutta High Court notifying former Chief Justices and judges who are willing to accept assignment to Appellate Tribunals immediately.
Chief Justice of India Surya Kant clarified that as many judges as may be required be appointed as the state goes to polls soon amid growing concerns over the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise not being completed in time and the Calcutta HC being burdened.
A bench comprising Chief Justice of India Surya Kant, Justices Joymalya Bagchi and R. Mahadevan were hearing a batch of petitions, including one by West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee, raising concerns about the categorisation of voters in the ‘logical discrepancy’ list by the Election Commission. Two fresh petitions were also filed before the top court by persons from the state challenging their exclusion from the voter list after the SIR process.
The CJI directed that “all necessary facilities should be provided to the officers” while requesting the Chief Justice of the Calcutta HC to fix honorarium payable to former CJs/judges who will accept the responsibility—with the entire expenditure to be borne by the Election Commission of India. Thus, it noted that recommendations of the Chief Justice shall be final and shall be implemented without any delay. It also directed that the updated voter lists be provided in every district of West Bengal.
The top court also directed that technical issues relating to the portal which are causing disruptions shall be effectively addressed so that no such disruption occurs in the process.
New login IDs shall be created promptly as and when required by judicial officers, without any delay.
The top court noted two issues flagged today by senior advocate and Trinamool Congress (TMC) Rajya Sabha candidate Menaka Guruswamy, TMC MP and senior advocate Kalyan Banerjee and senior advocate Gopal Sankarnarayan.
The first was the mechanism of appeal for persons whose inclusion claims have been rejected by judicial officers during the revision process; the second was the publication of supplementary lists of those whose objections have already been disposed of, particularly when more than 10 lakh objections have been disposed of.
In the last order, passed on 24 February, the top court had clarified that orders passed by judicial officers would not be subject to appeal before any executive or administrative forum.
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Calcutta HC report received by SC
CJI Kant also took note of a communication report sent by Calcutta HC Chief Justice Sujoy Paul dated 10 March which informed that more than 10 lakh objections have been disposed of.
More than 500 judicial officers from West Bengal, 200 from Odisha and Jharkhand have been deployed and are working day and night. The report also informed that repeated video conferences are being held with judicial officers and necessary directions issued while their leaves have been cancelled. Further, the top court directed the state government to ensure that all necessary facilities be provided to the judicial officers.
The court also noted that judicial officers have, however, experienced difficulty which seems to have been created by some mistake at the hands of ECI. The same was notified to ECI counsel senior advocate Dama Seshadri Naidu, who said that the matter will be rectified. The top court said it “strongly recommend(s) ECI to provide full logistic support in completion of responsibilities of judicial officers”.
During the hearing, the CJI strongly objected to petitions questioning the judicial officers. “I know what has happened … I will not share in open court,” he said, noting that questioning the judicial officers shall not be tolerated.
After the order was passed, Justice Bagchi from the Calcutta HC noted that now senior advocate Guruswamy “should learn Bengali”.
Having recently filed her nomination for the Rajya Sabha from TMC, Guruswamy, in jest, replied, “Khub bhalo (very good),” and said she is trying to learn Bengali.
(Edited by Amrtansh Arora)
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