Bengal SIR: Voter roll scrutiny strains judiciary amid rising vacancies

At the Burdwan district court, Moinuddin Mondal waited nearly two hours for a hearing in a domestic assault case before learning it would not take place on Friday (February 27).

The judge assigned to his courtroom was instead engaged in verifying voter records under a court‑mandated electoral roll revision exercise.

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“Everyone is busy with voter list work,” said Mondal, who had travelled from Raina, a village about 30 kilometres from the court. “After spending so much money to come here, it was all in vain,” he rued to local reporters.

Similar scenes across Bengal

Similar scenes have played out across West Bengal as hundreds of judicial officers have been redeployed to adjudicate claims and objections under the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, ordered by the Supreme Court on February 20. The exercise is aimed at resolving disputes over roughly 60 lakh electors left “under adjudication” after discrepancies were flagged in the voter lists.

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State Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Manoj Agarwal said about 530 judicial officers have been deputed statewide, and most of them have begun disposing of cases, with one-time passwords created to enable access to the SIR database.

The intervention, though intended to build confidence in the electoral process, has significantly disrupted normal judicial work.

Deserted look

Several courts, including district courts in Burdwan, Nadia, Murshidabad, North 24 Parganas and Alipurduar, as well as sub-divisional courts like Basirhat, have taken on a conspicuously deserted look as judicial officials attend to SIR duties.

Over the past few days, litigants travelling long distances have repeatedly found themselves unaware of judicial redeployments, forcing them to return home with their hearings rescheduled.

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At the Basirhat sub-divisional court, an elderly petitioner hoping for an alimony order was told to return later because the assigned judicial officer was unavailable.

In Nadia, a mother who came to give testimony in a case under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act was also turned away.

Unprecedented situation

Public prosecutors across several districts described the situation as unprecedented, warning that poor and vulnerable litigants are bearing the brunt of the delays.

The statewide strain on court operations is evident in the situation at the Barasat court in North 24 Parganas.

The district has a total of 33 Assembly constituencies. By this count, at least 33 judges would be needed if one judge were assigned to each constituency. However, only around 17 are currently available to handle the task.

Court insiders say that in Barasat, the additional district judge, the chief judicial magistrate, and an additional chief judicial magistrate are tied up with document scrutiny.

Mounting backlogs

Additionally, four judges from the civil judge courts and eight first-class judicial magistrates are handling verification of disputed voter files, disrupting the courts’ normal functioning.

Barasat has eight first-class judicial magistrates, all of whom are occupied with the SIR-document checks, sources said. With around 15 judges and magistrates engaged simultaneously in verification duties, routine court proceedings have slowed considerably.

Lawyers note that, at present, most hearings, other than bail applications, are barely progressing, with many litigants leaving after only receiving the date for their next session.

“About 15 judges of various courts in Barasat are currently engaged in SIR document verification. Because of this, the hearing process in those courts is getting disrupted,” said Sushovon Mitra, a lawyer practising there.

The diversion of judicial officers has also led to mounting backlogs in routine matters, with evidence-recording and scheduled hearings postponed indefinitely in several districts.

The situation in Barasat is reflective of a wider problem across West Bengal’s courts.

Calcutta HC cancels leaves

Judge vacancy levels in the state’s subordinate judiciary have risen from around 9.5 per cent in mid‑2022 to about 20.8 per cent by early 2025, according to the India Justice Report. According to legal experts, the SIR-related shortage is putting further strain on an already overstretched judicial system, and is also setting a precedent.

The deployment of judicial officers for SIR adjudication risks overburdening an already strained judiciary, observed Dr. Sarvesh Kumar Shahi, assistant professor and head of criminal law and criminal justice at KIIT School of Law, Kalinga Institute of Industrial Technology, Bhubaneswar.

“On the other hand, we cannot neglect the fact that judicial officers lack specialised election expertise, raising questions on their efficiency in voter list revisions compared to trained electoral registration officers. The Supreme Court itself called this an 'extraordinary' and reluctant step amid a 'blame game,' suggesting it bypasses executive functions better handled by administrative coordination rather than judicial intervention,” Dr Kumar further commented.

“We should understand that the judiciary's primary mandate is dispute resolution, not administrative tasks like electoral revisions. Deploying judges here blurs the separation of powers and sets a precedent for future polls,” he added.

Facing tight SIR deadlines, the Calcutta High Court cancelled leave for all judicial officers except in medical emergencies and called for reinforcements from neighbouring states.