Former Calcutta High Court Chief Justice T.S. Sivagnanam has resigned from the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) Appellate Tribunal in West Bengal, citing personal reasons.
The tribunal was created to hear appeals from people whose names were removed from voter lists during the revision of electoral rolls before the recent West Bengal Assembly elections. Justice Sivagnanam was one of the retired judges appointed to handle these cases and also headed a panel supervising the tribunal process.
His resignation comes at a time when thousands of appeal cases are still pending. Reports said nearly 90 lakh names were removed from voter lists during the revision exercise, while around 27 lakh people challenged the deletions through appeals.
According to reports, Justice Sivagnanam informed the Calcutta High Court and election authorities about his decision to step down. Though he officially cited personal reasons, the resignation has drawn attention because of the slow progress in clearing the large number of pending cases.
Reports also suggested that only a small number of voters managed to get their names restored before polling. Justice Sivagnanam had reportedly observed that, at the current pace, it could take years to clear all the pending appeals in Kolkata alone.
The voter list revision exercise became a major political issue during the Assembly elections. Opposition parties and civil society groups alleged that many genuine voters were removed from the rolls, while the Election Commission said the exercise was aimed at cleaning up electoral data.
Justice Sivagnanam retired as Chief Justice of the Calcutta High Court in 2024. His resignation has now raised fresh questions about how the remaining appeal cases will be handled in the coming months.
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