SIR row: SC refuses to entertain West Bengal Govt’s objection to EC training judicial officers
Don't make excuses to stall the process, SC Bench tells government counsel
The Supreme Court on Friday refused to entertain the West Bengal Government’s objections to the Election Commission imparting ‘training’ to judicial officers deployed for verification of claims for expediting the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) process in the state.
"Please do not make small excuses to stall the process. This has to end… Let the judicial officers work… They will work independently. The judicial officers must be trusted,” a Bench of Chief Justice of India Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi told senior counsel Kapil Sibal who represented the West Bengal Government.
"Who will train them? To understand the process. Our order is clear as daylight and the EC’s instructions cannot override our orders," the Bench emphasized.
The top court’s comments came after Sibal mentioned the matter for urgent hearing. "Something strange has happened, directions/modalities to the judicial officers have been issued by the Election Commission behind your back after the order of this court. Judicial officers have been given a training module on what to refer and what not to refer. This court stated the Chief Justice of the High Court will decide modalities," Sibal submitted.
However, the Bench disagreed with Sibal. It was not out of place for the poll panel to coordinate with the judicial officers who were not familiar with the SIR work assigned to them, it said. "We gave an alien responsibility to the judicial officers," the CJI Kant noted.
"But they (judicial officers) cannot take instructions from the EC that follow this and take this certificate and not," Sibal insisted.
As Sibal alleged that the EC was not accepting identity proofs permitted by the top court, the top court said all such concerns would be addressed by it.
The Bench pointed out that it engaged almost all judicial officers in West Bengal for smooth conduct of SIR.
The Supreme Court had on February 24 allowed deployment of civil judges with experience of at least three years from neighbouring Orissa and Jharkhand for timely completion of the SIR of electoral rolls in West Bengal ahead of the upcoming assembly elections.
Citing "trust deficit" between the West Bengal Government and the Election Commission, the Bench had on February 20 issued an extraordinary order for deployment of judicial officers, including retired judges, from West Bengal for conduct of SIR of electoral rolls in the state.
On February 24, the Bench expanded the scope of its order to include civil judges from Orissa and Jharkhand with experience of at least three years for timely completion of the SIR exercise.
The order came after the Calcutta High Court Chief Justice wrote to the Supreme Court on February 22 that 250 judicial officers have been assigned the task of deciding about 80 lakh claims and objections under logical discrepancy and unmapped categories.
Logical discrepancies in progeny linking with the 2002 voter list included instances of a mismatch in the parent’s name and the age difference between a voter and his/her parent being less than 15 years or more than 50 years.
