Citing the long daily journey between his residence and the tribunal, retired Calcutta High Court Judge Justice Indrajit Chatterjee, who presides over the appellate tribunal hearing Special Intensive Revision appeals from Murshidabad, has offered to resign with effect from November 2, at a time when lakhs of SIR appeals remain pending before the tribunals in West Bengal.
Kolkata: Retired Calcutta High Court Judge Justice Indrajit Chatterjee, who presides over one of the appellate tribunals hearing appeals arising from the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in West Bengal, has offered to resign from the tribunal with effect from November 2, 2026, citing the long daily commute between his residence in Salt Lake and the tribunal at Joka.
Justice Chatterjee has written to Calcutta High Court Chief Justice Ravindra Vithalrao Ghuge and to West Bengal Chief Electoral Officer Neelam Meena, saying that the journey, amid poor road conditions and heavy traffic, had made it difficult for him to continue. He presides over the Appellate Tribunal dealing with appeals from the district of Murshidabad.
The commute
The judge reportedly has to travel about 70 km a day between his residence and the tribunal office, a journey that takes roughly four hours in total. He is said to leave home at around 9.30 am and to return at about 7 pm after completing his work. In his letter, he is reported to have written:
“It is impossible to work under such conditions and do justice to the mammoth responsibilities bestowed on us.”
Background of the case
The SIR appellate tribunals were constituted to hear appeals relating to the inclusion and exclusion of names in the electoral rolls following the revision exercise, and began functioning in April 2026 after directions concerning the appellate mechanism. About 7.47 lakh appeals from Murshidabad are reported to be pending before Justice Chatterjee’s tribunal.
The pendency across the State is large. In affidavits filed in the Supreme Court in the West Bengal SIR matter, the Election Commission has said that, of more than 38 lakh appeals before the Appellate Tribunals, only about 1.02 lakh, under 3 per cent, had been disposed of, and that 22,21,118 appeals were filed by voters whose names were deleted while 16,10,311 challenge the inclusion of names. The Commission has proposed increasing the number of tribunals to match the State’s parliamentary constituencies.
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Why the development matters
If the resignation takes effect, it will further reduce the number of retired High Court judges handling SIR-related appeals in the State, after former Calcutta High Court Chief Justice T. S. Sivagnanam resigned from the tribunal earlier this year. No decision on the offer had been reported at the time of writing.
Matter: Resignation offer by Justice Indrajit Chatterjee (retired), presiding officer, SIR Appellate Tribunal for Murshidabad, West Bengal
Letter addressed to: Chief Justice Ravindra Vithalrao Ghuge, Calcutta High Court, and Chief Electoral Officer Neelam Meena
Proposed effective date: November 2, 2026