“By having their names deleted, many disadvantaged citizens are denied many essential social and government benefits,” he listed as one of the main concerns in the petition.
The petition demanded deployment of “adequate” number of sitting or retired judges to manage the “exceptional” caseload in the state, stating that the matter worsened following the retirement of former Calcutta High Court Chief Justice TS Sivagnanam from the SIR court. “It has become clear that with only two functional courts in Murshidabad handling only 30 to 50 cases per day, it will take 4 to 5 years to process the huge backlog of cases!” He added the appeal. She also noted that the names of nearly 500,000 voters in Murshidabad district alone were omitted due to minor clerical errors, and they were not given “any opportunity for a fair hearing.”
The petition also called for the establishment of mass appellate courts in “severely affected” areas such as Murshidabad and Malda to allow faster hearings and a transparent digital portal that would allow the public to access daily cause lists and copies of judicial orders.
