The Supreme Court today directed the West Bengal government and the Election Commission to provide all logistical support to judicial officers involved in the ongoing special intensive revision of electoral rolls in the state. A three-judge bench, comprising Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justices R. Mahadevan and Joymalya Bagchi, stated that the judicial officers, deployed in the SIR process, have so far dealt with 10.16 lakh objections and claims from those facing deletion from the electoral rolls. It also clarified that decisions made by the judicial officers cannot be reviewed in appeals by any administrative officers of the Election Commission.
The top court bench said that the Chief Justice of the High Court can form a bench of former Chief Justices and High Court judges to deal with appeals and asked the poll panel to issue a notification for setting up an appellate body to deal with the appeals against the judicial officers’ decisions in the SIR process. The bench was hearing a batch of petitions related to the ongoing SIR exercise in the state.