Photo: IANS
The Supreme Court on Friday reiterated that deletion from electoral rolls following the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise does not automatically lead to the loss of citizenship.
A bench comprising Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justices Joymalya Bagchi and V Mohana made the observation while hearing a plea by Prasenjit Bose seeking reforms to simplify the appellate process for those excluded during the SIR.
The court noted that, in its Bihar SIR judgment, it had clarified that the Election Commission of India (ECI) has a corresponding duty to refer such cases to the Union government for adjudication under the Citizenship Act. It indicated that a person’s citizenship status would continue unless such a determination is made under the law, The New Indian Express reported.
The bench was informed that around 34 lakh appeals are pending before 19 Appellate Tribunals, with two judges having resigned.
Appearing for Bose, senior advocate Gopal Sankaranarayanan submitted that only about 38,000 appeals had been disposed of so far and that data suggested nearly 70% of them had been allowed. He argued that, while appeals remain pending, several persons whose names had been deleted from the electoral rolls were allegedly being denied benefits under the Public Distribution System (PDS), the Annapurna Yojana and even caste certificates in West Bengal.
Sankaranarayanan contended that such deprivation would continue for lakhs of people until their appeals are decided.
Justice Bagchi observed that the ECI’s authority is limited to electoral rolls and that it is not the constitutional body empowered to determine citizenship under Articles 9, 10, 11 and 12 of the Constitution. He said exclusion from the rolls, by itself, does not amount to the loss of citizenship and reiterated that the court had imposed a corresponding obligation on the ECI in this regard.
The matter has been posted for further hearing along with a batch of petitions challenging the West Bengal SIR exercise.