The Supreme Court on Tuesday asked Calcutta High Court Chief Justice Sujoy Paul to form special appellate tribunals with former high court judges that will
examine the appeals filed by those excluded from Bengal’s voter list during the SIR.
Each tribunal is to be headed by a former chief justice of Calcutta High Court. The apex court left it to Justice Paul to decide how many such tribunals are to be set up, and said he was free to requisition former chief justices and judges from other high courts.
The top court, however, warned individual petitioners who had questioned the ongoing adjudication process for 60 lakh voters, saying “how can they dare question judicial officers” and threatening contempt action.
The SIR exercise has so far decided the cases of the 32 lakh “unmapped” voters and about half the 1.2 crore voters with “logical discrepancies”, with those excluded marked “deleted” on the
preliminary “final” list published on February 28. These deleted voters can presumably approach the tribunals, expected to be set up over the next few days.
But the remaining half of those with discrepancies — about 60 lakh — who have been marked “under
adjudication” can know whether they have been excluded only after the supplementary lists (of those included) are published.
The apex court, however, left it to Justice Paul’s discretion when to publish the supplementary lists after the verification of these 60 lakh, being done by judicial officers (district-level judges) appointed by the high court chief justice.
The bench passed these directions after senior advocate Kalyan Banerjee, appearing for the Bengal government, complained that the state’s chief electoral officer had issued a circular saying all appeals should be marked to him and that he would decide them.
The bench said Justice Paul had informed it that about 10 lakh of the under-adjudication cases had been decided, prompting Banerjee to say the supplementary lists of those cleared should be uploaded immediately.
The bench of Chief Justice Surya Kant, Justice R. Mahadevan and Justice Joymalya Bagchi, however, left the matter for Justice Paul to decide.
Warning
The bench expressed anguish and warned of action against petitioners who approach the top court in advance, fearing exclusion from the voter list by the judicial officers.
Such pleas imply a lack of trust in the judicial officers from Bengal and neighbouring Jharkhand and Odisha who are making painstaking efforts to complete the adjudication process, the bench said.
At one point, with the poll panel, Bengal government and individual petitioners speaking in contrary voices, a visibly annoyed Justice Kant remarked that the court had now started “doubting” the bona fides of “both sides”. It was not clear who he was referring to.
“Now this game begins... premature petitions are being filed…. As far as you people are concerned, wait and watch. Advance petitions send the wrong signal that you don’t have faith in the system,” Justice Kant said.
“How dare the petitioners file the applications? How can they dare to question judicial officers? I am issuing a stern warning. I will not tolerate such things,” he orally told senior advocate Menaka Guruswamy, appearing for individual petitioners who had approached the top court after their names had been excluded from the voter list.
“We will issue contempt notice. We must respond in the language they want.”
Guruswamy said she was not representing any of these petitioners.
“We have not done so. It is shocking to question judicial officers. We are not questioning the judicial officers,”she said.
Senior advocate Gopal Sankaranaryanan, appearing for the Bengal government, said the judicial officers were doing a “fantastic” job. But in the context of the apex court refusing to hear appeals against exclusions, he argued that the high court could be overburdened if all such appeals were filed before it.
It was then that the bench said it was directing the formation of appellate tribunals.
Poll panel sources in Bengal too have been saying that a judicial appellate panel would have to be formed anyway, since administrative officers such as the DEOs and the CEO cannot hear appeals against exclusions by judicial officers.
During Tuesday’s hearing, Justice Bagchi orally said: “Those who are genuine will be included. Judicial officers are doing the exercise. Days before the voting, this exercise (verification of names) will be over.”
There’s no official court order yet on whether the verification of the 60 lakh under-adjudication voters, and the settlement of appeals, must be completed before the elections take place.
“Let the supplementary list be published as and when clearance (is there). Till now, the notification has not come out for elections. Our request is, please ensure smooth discharge of duty by the officers,” Justice Bagchi said.
The bench said it had received a report from Justice Paul saying 500 judicial officers from Bengal and another 200 from Odisha and Jharkhand were working “day and night” to deal with the situation.
It directed senior counsel D. Sheshadri Naidu, representing the Election Commission, to ensure that thejudicial officers did not face technical glitches.