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Kolkata: The Calcutta High Court has cancelled the leaves of civil judges and magistrates to urgently clear over six million pending cases related to unmapped voters and discrepancies in West Bengal’s electoral roll, after the Supreme Court of India allowed it to deploy additional judicial officers following concerns raised by the Election Commission of India about the scale of the backlog.
A senior official of the Election Commission had said on Tuesday that West Bengal may need more than 1,000 judicial officers to adjudicate the six million pending cases of unmapped voters and logical discrepancies arising out of the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR).
“At least 6,006,075 cases of unmapped voters and logical discrepancies are pending, which judicial officers need to dispose of. Around 250 judicial officers have been working since Monday afternoon. The state may need around 1,000 – 1,200 judicial officers to adjudicate the cases in time,” said a senior official of EC in Kolkata.
In an unprecedented move, the Supreme Court on Tuesday authorised the chief justice of the Calcutta high court to draw additional judicial manpower to complete the exercise “on a war footing”. Apart from civil judges (senior and junior division) with at least three years’ experience, the chief justice has been permitted to approach the chief justices of the Jharkhand and Orissa High Courts to spare serving and retired judicial officers.
Hours after the Supreme Court’s order, the Calcutta high court cancelled all leaves of civil Judge (senior division), Chief Judicial Magistrates, Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate and Civil Judges (Junior Division) and Judicial Magistrate, including those posted on deputation till further orders. Those on pre-approved leave have been directed to join duty from Wednesday.
“While the final electoral roll will be published on February 28, as per the apex court’s orders, supplementary rolls comprising names of voters disposed of by the judicial officers will be published even after the EC announces the election dates. Supplementary lists may be published until the last day of nomination and those voters whose names are in the final roll or in the supplementary rolls will be eligible to cast their vote,” said the official.
