500 judges on SIR duty, cases pile up across Bengal courts

KOLKATA: The involvement of 500-odd judicial officers - judges in lower courts - from across Bengal in the adjudication of doubtful cases flagged on the voters' list published in Feb has sharply slowed down the disposal of cases in courts in the state.

The overall "clearance rate" of cases in Bengal's lower courts stood at 62% in 2025. This March, the monthly rate was just 42%. According to the district judiciary's "virtual justice clock", 90,685 cases were registered across the state in March, of which 38,527 were disposed of.




Kolkata's March disposal rate was even lower, at 39%. Of the 42,687 cases registered in lower courts in the city, 16,717 were disposed of. At 19%, West Burdwan had the lowest rate.

On Feb 20, a Supreme Court bench led by CJI Surya Kant had decided to entrust judicial officers with an "extraordinary" responsibility - scanning the documents of around 60 lakh individuals placed under adjudication during the special intensive revision (SIR) of the electoral roll and decide whether their voting right could be restored.

The bench had directed "an interim arrangement for the shifting of matters of interim relief or of an urgent nature to alternative courts for a week or 10 days, within which this entire process is scheduled to be completed".

However, the adjudication has been continuing for over a month. The judicial officers now face a deadline of April 6 and 9 for the two phases of the assembly polls scheduled for April 23 and 29.

Special public prosecutor Bivas Chatterjee said the involvement of so many judicial officers in SIR duty is hampering rape, murder and Pocso cases as well as hearings on bail applications. "One fast-track court judge has now been put in charge of four to five other courts, whose judges are on SIR duty. As a result, getting dates for cases has become difficult. Case pendency is increasing as it is impossible to handle so much work," he said.
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