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Ex-High Court Chief Justice quits Bengal SIR tribunal, cites ‘personal reasons’
The Supreme Court had asked Justice Sivagnanam to hold special hearings on appeals by Suprabuddha Sen, grandson of artist Nandalal Bose, and Congress candidate Motab Shaikh, who later won the election from the Farakka Assembly seat.
Justice Sivagnanam retired after a two-year tenure as Chief Justice of the Calcutta High Court in September last year. (@highcourtatcalcutta/YouTube)
Former Calcutta High Court Chief Justice TS Sivagnanam, who was among the 19 retired judges appointed Appellate Tribunals to hear appeals against judicial officers’ decisions in the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) in West Bengal, resigned from the tribunal on Thursday, The Indian Express has learnt.
The Supreme Court had asked Justice Sivagnanam to hold special hearings on appeals by Suprabuddha Sen, grandson of artist Nandalal Bose, and Congress candidate Motab Shaikh, who later won the election from the Farakka Assembly seat.
The court had ordered out-of-turn hearings for some appellants, including Shaikh and Sen. The appeals were sent before Justice Sivagnanam, who accepted them.
Justice Sivagnanam retired after a two-year tenure as Chief Justice of the Calcutta High Court in September last year. He was among the 19 former judges recommended by Calcutta High Court Chief Justice Sujoy Paul and notified by the Election Commission on March 20 as single-member Appellate Tribunals.
Justice Sivagnanam, it is learnt, sent his resignation to Chief Justice Paul on Thursday. The Election Commission of India and the Chief Electoral Officer of West Bengal were also informed.
When contacted, Justice Sivagnanam said: “I have resigned owing to personal reasons.”
In an unprecedented step, the Supreme Court on February 20 ordered the appointment of judicial officers of the rank of district judge and additional district judge to decide on the eligibility of lakhs of electors in Bengal. The court observed there was a trust deficit between the state government and the Election Commission.
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A total of 60.06 lakh electors were placed under adjudication by the Election Commission. After adjudication by 700 judicial officers, 27.16 lakh electors were deleted from the rolls. On March 10, the Supreme Court ordered the setting up of an appellate mechanism. While hearing the challenge to the SIR in Bengal, the court noted on April 13 that over 34 lakh appeals against exclusions and inclusions had been filed.
Later, the court ordered that all appeals cleared by the tribunals till two days before the polling in Bengal – April 21 for the first phase and April 27 for the second – could be added back to the rolls and the electors be allowed to vote. Fewer than 2,000 such appeals were cleared before the deadlines. The remaining 27.16 lakh electors deleted during adjudication were unable to cast their votes this time.
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