The Supreme Court on Monday said it would seek a report from the Calcutta High Court chief justice on claims that the 19 appellate tribunals in Bengal were not yet fully functional and were accepting only online appeals.
In a related but separate matter, the bench of Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bachi refused to entertain an oral plea that said the Election Commission had enrolled 5 lakh to 7 lakh new voters in Bengal on the basis of Form 6 applications.
Senior advocate Menaka Guruswamy, who made the oral plea on behalf of some people from Bengal, did not spell out what the objection was.
The bench said it would examine the matter if the petitioner filed a written plea.
Senior advocate Devdatt Kamat, appearing for some petitioners from Bengal, told the bench during the morning mentioning time that the appellate tribunals were not functioning fully.
“The appellate tribunals are not functioning. They only take Internet and computer-based applications,” Kamat told the bench.
“They are not allowing representation from lawyers. They are not accepting physical copies…. This court’s orders (are) not being followed.”
Justice Kant immediately said: “We will call for the response of the Calcutta High Court chief justice today itself.”
Some 27.16 lakh people, excluded from the Bengal rolls during the “adjudication process”, are entitled to appeal before the tribunals.
When Guruswamy sought urgent hearing of her client’s plea, Justice Kant joked: “The way every day some petitions or applications are being filed (relating to the Bengal SIR), we should have constituted a separate bench for this.”
Guruswamy replied: “But I am mentioning since your Lordships are that bench.”
What the senior advocate meant was that the bench of Justice Kant and Justice Bagchi was already dealing with multiple petitions and applications relating to the Bengal SIR.
Justice Kant said: “File a (written) petition if you are challenging something before use. We will entertain it.”
Guruswamy said newspapers had already reported this and the petitioners didn’t have adequate data on the subject at the moment.
The bench, however, said that court rules mandated the filing of a written petition.
At the previous hearing on April 16, the bench had said that voters whose appeals against exclusion are allowed by the tribunals before April 21 can vote in the first phase on April 23.
Appellants can vote in the second phase on April 29 if their appeals are allowed before April 27.
If an appeal against a person’s inclusion is allowed, they cannot vote.
Bengal-related SIR matters will be heard again on April 24.