Supreme Court allows Madhyamik admit cards as supplementary ID for West Bengal SIR

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Wednesday clarified that Madhyamik (Class 10) admit cards, when submitted along with the pass certificate, can be used as supplementary documentation for identity verification in the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in West Bengal.

A bench comprising Chief Justice of India Surya Kant and Justices Joymalya Bagchi and Vipul M Pancholi passed the order after senior advocate D S Naidu raised concerns about whether such admit cards could serve as a standalone identity proof.

The top court emphasised that Class 10 admit cards alone cannot be used as identity documents, and reiterated that they are admissible only when accompanied by the pass certificate.

“Para 3(iii)(c) is clarified to the effect that Madhyamik (Class 10) admit cards may be submitted along with a pass certificate for the purpose of birth certificate and the purposes of parentage,” the bench stated.

Judicial deployment to expedite SIR claims

The apex court also allowed the deployment of West Bengal civil judges, in addition to 250 district judges, and approved requisitioning judicial officers from Jharkhand and Odisha to manage approximately 80 lakh claims and objections in the SIR exercise.

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The court noted that even with 250 district judges, it would take around 80 days to address the claims due to logical discrepancies in progeny linking with the 2002 voter list. Such discrepancies include mismatches in parent names and improbable age differences between voters and their parents (less than 15 years or over 50 years).

CJI Surya Kant observed that even if each judicial officer handles 250 claims per day, additional manpower is required to meet the SIR deadline of February 28.

Directions for Calcutta High Court

The bench permitted Chief Justice Sujoy Paul of the Calcutta High Court to:

• Deploy civil judges from senior and junior divisions with a minimum of three years’ experience to verify claims and objections.
• Request the Chief Justices of Jharkhand and Odisha to provide judicial officers of similar ranks to assist in the exercise.

The Supreme Court reiterated that all pending documents mentioned in the February 24 order must be submitted by the Electoral Registration Officers and Assistant Electoral Registration Officers to presiding judicial officers by 5 pm on Thursday.

The clarification ensures that Class 10 admit cards, along with the pass certificate, will now be formally accepted as supplementary identity documentation for voters facing deletion or disputes in the ongoing West Bengal SIR process.

PTI