“294 Officers not enough!” SC requests Jharkhand and Orissa HC to participate, as Bengal S.I.R. takes new turn

The Supreme Court today, on 24 February, asked the judges of the Jharkhand and Orissa High Courts to join the West Bengal S.I.R. process to speed up the process, due to a shortage of equivalent officers in West Bengal.

This order was passed after the Calcutta High Court Chief Justice, Sujoy Paul, wrote a letter to the Supreme Court stating that even if one out of 294 officers verified 250 cases a day, it would take up to 80 days to complete the entire verification of the estimated 50 lakh pending cases. Listening to this plea, the Supreme Court bench comprising Chief Justice of India Surya Kant, Justices Joymalya Bagchi and Vipul M Pancholi was said to involve civil judges of senior and junior ranks who have at least 3 years of experience to participate in this verification process. If required further, the SC urged Calcutta HC to request the retired and serving judicial officers of their neighboring states of Jharkhand and Odisha High Courts of equivalent ranks to participate in the process as well.

The SC exercised its power under art. 142 and issued that electors included in such supplementary lists would be deemed part of the final roll published on that date. Only the SC has the power to implement Art. 142, which is used to bring “complete justice.”
The apex court also said that all the travel, logistical, and other expenses of the judicial officers will be borne by the Election Commission of India.

1. “In addition to the judicial officers already assigned the task, the Chief Justice of the Calcutta High Court would be entitled to draw officers from the rank of Civil Judges (Senior Division and Junior Division) having experience of not less than three years, to ensure that an adequate and reasonable pool is created to undertake the pending verification work on a war footing…”

2. “If the Honourable Chief Justice of the Calcutta High Court is of the opinion that further human resources would be required for completing the process, he is at liberty to approach the Honourable Chief Justices of neighbouring states—namely, the High Court of Jharkhand and the Odisha High Court—to provide serving or former judicial officers from those states of similar rank, who shall then also be associated to undertake verification work in the State of West Bengal. In that eventuality, the travel, boarding, honorarium, and other incidental expenses of such officers shall be borne by the Election Commission of India…”

3. “The Honourable Chief Justices of the Jharkhand and Odisha High Courts are requested to sympathetically and urgently consider any request that may be made by the Honourable Chief Justice of the Calcutta High Court in this regard,” the order came from the SC.

Nevertheless, the SC stated that Aadhar ID, Class 10 board exam admit card, and marksheet can be used as identification proof for objections and claims based on documents listed on October 27, 2025, by the ECI. The final voters’ list will be published on February 28, as earlier said, and additional supplementary lists will be released from time to time until the assembly elections in West Bengal 2026, said the SC.