Supreme Court angry over continuous petitions being filed from many states
New Delhi. The Supreme Court on Tuesday expressed strong displeasure over the continuous filing of petitions on SIR from many states of the country. CJI Surya Kant said during the hearing that if you people keep filing petitions like this, then when will the main issue of SIR be heard? He said that due to filing of so many petitions, the hearing of the main case is also being affected.
Along with this, the CJI also said that it seems that all the political persons are coming here just to make headlines. Expressing dissatisfaction over several petitions from UP, West Bengal, Kerala, Assam and Tamil Nadu, the court said, “Keep filing, keep politicizing.” The petitions of different states should be divided into different categories, so that the hearing on the main issue can be conducted smoothly. SIR cases relating to three different states are to be listed on three different dates next week.
According to the report, the senior lawyer argued that a big state like UP would not be able to complete the SIR in the stipulated timeline. On this, the CJI issued a notice on the petition of UP and said that the hearing will be held next Tuesday. The CJI again reiterated that if you people keep bringing new petitions like this, then how will the main case be heard? On the Tamil Nadu SIR issue, a lawyer said that migrant laborers from the state return only after Pongal, so the court should keep this in mind. The court made it clear that it will give priority to the Bihar case first, because the decision in it will affect all the states.
The Supreme Court has given major instructions regarding the BLOs engaged in SIR work. The court has said that all the instructions related to BLO will be applicable in the entire country. The Supreme Court clearly said that in the petitions challenging the SIR process, the security and administrative instructions of BLOs will be applicable to the entire country and are not limited to West Bengal only.
CJI Surya Kant said that threats being received by BLOs at the ground level can become a serious issue. Their security cannot be ignored. The Supreme Court has issued a notice to the Election Commission. He said that the instructions related to BLO will be applicable across the country. During this hearing, the Election Commission said that the security of BLOs depends on the cooperation of the state police. If needed, central forces can be deployed. Affected employees will be able to contact the State ECI and District Election Officer for security. The next hearing of cases related to voter enrollment and citizenship will be held on 17th.