KOLKATA: The Calcutta High Court has constituted a special committee to manage urgent judicial matters and ensure uninterrupted court functioning after several judicial officers were assigned duties connected to the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in West Bengal.
Chief Justice Sujoy Paul ordered the formation of the panel to supervise interim arrangements for shifting cases involving urgent relief to alternative courts. The move comes in response to recent directions issued by the Supreme Court of India, which took the rare step of deploying serving and retired district judges to assist election authorities in completing the politically sensitive voter-list verification exercise in the state.
According to an official notification issued by the high court administration, the committee comprises Justices Tapabrata Chakraborty and Arijit Banerjee along with Registrar General Nabamita Ray, Registrar (Judicial Service) Raju Mukherjee and Joint Registrar-cum-Secretary to the Chief Justice Ajay Kumar Das. The panel has been tasked with overseeing arrangements to ensure that matters requiring interim relief, bail hearings, and other urgent judicial interventions are promptly reassigned and heard without delay.
To facilitate compliance with the apex court’s order and ensure adequate judicial manpower for the SIR process, the Chief Justice has also directed that leave of all judicial officers posted across West Bengal courts stand cancelled until March 9. The measure is intended to maintain administrative continuity and guarantee sufficient availability of officers for both election-related duties and essential court work.
In addition, district-level coordination committees have been constituted throughout the state. Each such panel will include the district judge, district magistrate and superintendent of police, and will supervise implementation of the Supreme Court’s directives at the local level. The objective is to ensure smooth execution of the electoral revision exercise while preventing disruption to routine judicial and administrative functioning.
Following the Supreme Court’s order, Chief Justice Paul convened a high-level meeting at the high court premises to review preparedness and coordination among stakeholders. The meeting was attended by the state’s Chief Electoral Officer, Chief Secretary, Home Secretary, Director General of Police, Advocate General, the Additional Solicitor General representing the Union government, and the Registrar General of the high court.
The Supreme Court had earlier described the deployment of judicial officers for the SIR exercise as an “extraordinary” measure, underlining the sensitivity of the ongoing electoral roll revision and the need for credible supervision.
The latest administrative steps by the Calcutta High Court are aimed at balancing two parallel priorities: ensuring full compliance with the apex court’s election-related directions while simultaneously safeguarding uninterrupted access to urgent judicial remedies for litigants across West Bengal.
