The Supreme Court has allowed the Chief Justice of the Calcutta High Court to deploy civil judges and requisition judicial officers from neighboring Jharkhand and Odisha to handle the 80 lakh claims and objections under the Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls in West Bengal.
A bench headed by Chief Justice Surya Kant took note of a letter from the Calcutta High Court Chief Justice stating that the approximately 250 district judges involved in the exercise would require around 80 days to complete the verification process. Considering the time constraints, the apex court allowed the deployment of additional civil judges and asked the Calcutta High Court to seek judicial officers of similar rank from Jharkhand and Odisha.
The court directed the Election Commission to bear the expenses for deploying officers from the two states. It also permitted the poll panel to publish the final electoral roll on February 28th and clarified that supplementary lists could be issued as verification progresses. Invoking its plenary powers under Article 142, the court said that eligible voters identified through the ongoing process could be included in supplementary rolls, forming part of the final list.
Earlier, expressing concern over the dispute between the West Bengal government and the Election Commission, the court had ordered the deployment of serving and former district judges to assist in completing the revision exercise.
