The Supreme Court on Monday extended the deadline by a week to complete the special intensive revision of the electoral roll in West Bengal. “We direct that the ERO (Election Registration Officer) be given one more week after February 14 to scrutinize and take a decision,” the court said in an interim order on a petition filed by West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee against the practice of SIR in the state.
CJI Surya Kant said the top court “will not create any obstacles to complete the SIR.” (ANI)However, while ordering the extension, Chief Justice of India (CJI) Justice Surya Kant said the apex court “will not create any hurdle in the completion of the SIR”, assuring that it will remove all hurdles while revising the electoral roll, Bar and bench Report
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In the interim order, the SC bench headed by CJI Surya Kant and comprising Justices Jayamalya Bagchi and NV Anjaria asked the West Bengal Govt. To confirm the list 8,555 Group B officers, which it handed over to the court, reported to their district election officers by 5 pm.
This came later Election Commission of India (ECI) told the court that the state was not providing adequate manpower.
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The court also ruled that the ECI must have the discretion to replace the ERO and AERO and “utilize the existing services if eligible.”
The SC bench said state government officials “can be given a brief training of one or two days to act as micro-observers after their biodata verification”, according to the bar and bench.
“The duties assigned to the micro observers or state government officials will only assist the ERO as the final decision rests with the ERO,” the court further said. The apex court said that since this new set of government officials will be included, “the process of verifying the documents submitted by the affected persons may take more time.”
