Kolkata, Feb 23 (IANS) The adjudication of voters’ documents identified under the “logical discrepancy” category by the judicial officers, as directed by the Supreme Court last week, will start from Monday.
The process is expected to start after 11 a.m., and as per the direction of the apex court, the decision of judicial adjudicators regarding the fate of such voters’ documents will be final.
The judicial adjudication process will start on Monday, with the initial involvement of 150 session judges appointed by the Calcutta High Court.
In total, around 250 judicial officers have been assigned to the adjudication process, which will be supervised at the district level by three-member committees constituted under the direction of the Calcutta High Court.
Each district-level supervisory committee will comprise the district judge, the district magistrate — who also serves as the district electoral officer — and the district superintendent of police concerned.
Of the 250 judicial officers involved, around 100 are judges currently presiding over courts under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act and the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, while the remaining are session judges from other courts.
During a meeting held in Kolkata on Sunday between judicial officers assigned to adjudication duties and representatives of the Election Commission of India (ECI), the detailed procedural guidelines for the judicial adjudication process were explained.
In the meeting, the judicial officers appointed for the purpose were informed that they would be required to accept only the 13 identity documents specified by the ECI for verification of voters identified under the “logical discrepancy” category
The clarification assumes significance amid objections raised by the ruling Trinamool Congress, which had questioned the restriction to the 13 specified documents and sought consideration of additional identity proofs issued by various state government agencies.
Officials said that as per the current schedule, the final electoral roll in West Bengal will be published on February 28, excluding those cases referred for judicial adjudication. Supplementary electoral rolls will be published subsequently after the adjudication process is completed.
According to the ECI insiders, all attempts will be made to complete the judicial adjudication process by February 28, so that the supplementary lists can be published at the earliest.
However, considering the large number of documents, around 50 lakh, that have been referred for judicial adjudication, there are doubts whether the deadline on this count would be met or not.
Meanwhile, the Calcutta High Court had already issued a notification cancelling the leave of all judicial officers in West Bengal until March 9 and directed those currently on leave to report back to duty by Monday. The order excluded judicial officers on emergency medical leave.
–IANS
src/dpb