Hearing a batch of pleas related to the ongoing Special Intensive Review (SIR) exercise in West Bengal, the Supreme Court on Tuesday reacted sharply to the submissions before it purporting to stay the claims before the judicial officers given the task of Special Intensive Review (SIR) of electoral rolls in the state and asked “how dare” this happen.
Asking the state government and Election Commission of India (ECI) to ensure logistical support to judicial personnel, Chief Justice of India (CJI) Surya Kant and Justice Joymalia Bagchi said that the Supreme Court will not tolerate attempts to question the integrity of judicial personnel.
“Your application is premature and appears as if you do not have confidence. How dare you make such applications? No one should dare to question judicial officials. As Chief Justice of India, I will not tolerate this,” law portal Bar and Bench quoted CJI Kant as telling the applicants.
A special judicial body led by the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court
The three-judge bench said Calcutta High Court Chief Justice Sujoy Paul may constitute a special bench of former or sitting judges to hear appeals challenging decisions taken during the SIR exercise in West Bengal.
The bench said that judicial officers, deployed in the SIR process, have so far dealt with 10.16 lakh objections and claims of those facing deletion from electoral rolls, news agency PTI reported.
The bench asked the poll body to ensure that no mandatory step, which could stall the SIR process, is introduced unless approved by the Chief Justice of Calcutta High Court.
She said that technical malfunctions in the European Commission portal will be looked into to ensure that such disruptions do not occur.
The Commission directed the creation of new login IDs for judicial employees to ensure smooth review of electoral rolls, noting that decisions of judicial employees cannot be examined on appeal by any administrative staff of the Election Commission.
