SIR in Bengal: Supreme Court extends deadline by one week, says ‘will not allow anyone to create…’ | Top Updates

Amid West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee's concerns over potential “mass exclusion” of voters in the state's Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, the Supreme Court on Monday said that it would not permit any obstacles to the process, PTI reported.

2. "We will not allow anyone to create any impediment in the SIR exercise. It must be clear to the states," the CJI said while hearing a batch of petitions, including the one filed by Banerjee, related to the ongoing SIR of electoral rolls in West Bengal.

3. The bench took note of the affidavit filed by the Election Commission (EC), which alleged burning of its notices by some miscreants. It directed the West Bengal director general of police (DGP) to file an affidavit in this regard.

4. The poll panel said that so far, no FIR has been registered against the miscreants. "A message must go that the Constitution of India applies to all states," Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the Centre, said, as reported by PTI.

5. The Supreme Court noted that the West Bengal government had submitted a list of 8,505 Group B officers to the election panel, suggesting they could be trained and deployed for the SIR process. 6.

6. The bench clarified that the final decisions on revising the electoral rolls will rest solely with the electoral roll officers. The bench said the manner of employment and work profile of these 8,505 officers will be decided by the poll panel.

7. During the hearing, senior advocate Shyam Divan, appearing for Banerjee, raised apprehensions about the appointment of micro-observers and mass exclusion of eligible voters in the SIR exercise. “We don't want any mass exclusion,” Divan told the bench.

8. Chief Justice Surya Kant said that to streamline the West Bengal SIR process and address the apprehensions raised, we issue the following interim directions, as reported by the Bar and Bench.

a. Let the state of West Bengal ensure that all 8,555 group B officers whose list has been handed over today report to the district electoral officers (DRO) by 5 pm.

b. ECI shall have the discretion to replace the existing ERO, AERO and utilise the services of the present if found qualified, the Bar and Bench reported.

c. “After briefly scrutinising their biodata, these state govt officials may be imparted a brief training of a day or two so as to work as the micro observers,” CJI said, as reported by Bar and Bench.

d. The responsibility assigned to micro observers or the state govt officials shall be to only assist the EROs as the final decision will be of the ERO, the CJI Kant added.

e. Since new set of government officials have been inducted, the process of scrutinising documents submitted by affected persons is likely to take more time and as suggested on behalf of some of the petitioners, we direct that one week more time shall be granted beyond February 14 to the ERO to complete scrutiny and take a decision, the Bar and Bench reported, citing the CJI.

(With inputs from PTI, Bar and Bench)