Won’t allow any impediment: Supreme Court on SIR exercise in West Bengal

The observation fell from a bench headed by Chief Justice of India (CJI) Surya Kant after Solicitor General Tushar Mehta submitted that West Bengal was deliberately indulging in derailment of SIR. He apprised the bench that the Election Commission of India (ECI) has filed a fresh affidavit detailing the alleged unruly behaviour of state officials. The affidavit has some “alarming facts. Violence has been instigated by their (state) leaders. It is most unfortunate,” Mehta said as he urged the bench to take judicial note of it and send a message that “Constitution must apply to all states in the country”.

In a related development, the SC directed the West Bengal government to ensure that over 8,000 of its officers provided to the ECI for SIR-related duty report to the district electoral officers by Tuesday evening. The bench reiterated that a specific direction was issued to police to ensure maintenance of law and order and directed the West Bengal DGP to file a personal affidavit on the allegations levelled by the ECI. In its affidavit, seen by ET, the ECI has submitted that the West Bengal government is “actively involved in causing obstruction and issuing threats to officials” involved in the exercise of SIR.
In a 135-page affidavit, the poll body has attached several correspondences sent to the state government, interviews and newspaper reports of statements made by Trinamool leaders. “The material placed on record discloses that, through proper planning and concerted action, deliberate and systematic attempts are being made to derail, paralyse and frustrate the SIR exercise,” reads ECI’s affidavit. It adds “regrettably, this confederacy is not confined to fringe elements. The actions demonstrate complicity of key actors of the state, including the state government, certain elected representatives of the ruling party, and party functionaries. Every trick in the armoury is being employed to ensure that the SIR process is either stopped or frustrated by fair or foul means.”

The poll body urged the top court to take judicial notice of the deliberate and concerted attempts to derail SIR and issue appropriate directions to ensure that the constitutional mandate under Article 324 is not defeated by obstruction, intimidation or misuse of state power. In a related development, the top court refused to entertain objections raised by Akhil Bharat Hindu Mahasabha to the personal appearance of Mamata Banerjee in the SIR case.