The Supreme Court on Friday refused to entertain the Bengal government’s plea to restrain the Election Commission from "influencing" the judicial officers overseeing the SIR exercise in the state.
“We know our judicial officers; they are not going to be influenced by anything. Please don’t make small excuses to stall the process,” Chief Justice Surya Kant said as the court brushed aside Bengal's allegation.
A bench composed of the CJI and Justice Joymalya Bagchi was visibly piqued when senior advocate Kapil Sibal, seeking to make an “urgent mentioning” request, told the bench that the EC had issued a training module to the judicial officers on the voters' documents, which they would accept and reject.
“…What they have done behind my back is that they issued directions to the judicial officers and issued a training module saying ‘this is what should accept and this is what they should not accept'…,” Sibal said.
That was when the CJI said the judicial officers wouldn't be influenced by anything.
The bench said it went beyond normal procedures to depute judicial officers to oversee the SIR exercise, and hence, there had to be an end to complaints regarding the process.
“We went beyond our imagination,” Justice Kant said. The bench rejected Sibal’s argument that the EC was trying to influence the judicial officers.
“Look at the extent to which we have gone! We have almost evacuated the state judiciary,” the bench remarked while referring to the deployment of judicial officers from the entire state and from Odisha and Jharkhand if they were necessary for the adjudication of documents in the SIR drive.
The bench has pointed out that in every litigation, the court hears the disputing parties and their advocates and finally pronounces a verdict impartially. Similarly, the judicial officers may hear the view of the EC but will take their own decision vis-à-vis the verification process, said the court.
Referring to the objections to the training module evolved by the EC for judicial officers, Justice Bagchi asked: “Who else will give the training? They are being trained to understand the modalities."
Sibal also complained that even the Bengal chief secretary had been asked to produce her credentials by the EC, and the training modules stated that domicile certificates should not be accepted for verification.
“Our orders are as clear as daylight,” the bench said.
The court said the judicial officers were aware of their powers and would consider the documents mentioned in the court’s earlier order for the verification of the identity of voters.
Finally, the court said it would not pass any further orders on the issue.