The Calcutta High Court on Saturday issued directives refraining all judicial officers from taking any leave or attending outstation programmes until March 9, and constituted a committee in each district to ensure compliance with directions passed by the Supreme Court for the completion of Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in West Bengal.ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW VIDEOThe directives were issued after a high-level meeting at the Calcutta High Court following the Supreme Court’s direction that the remaining stages of SIR must be conducted under the supervision of judicial officers and former judges.The closed-door meeting, presided over by Chief Justice of Calcutta High Court Sujoy Paul, was attended by Additional Solicitor General Ashok Kumar Chakraborty, Advocate General Kishore Dutta, Chief Election Officer Manoj Agarwal, ECI director of legal services Vijay Pandey, Chief Secretary Nandini Chakravorty, and Director General of Police Peeyush Pandey.The meeting commenced around 2:35pm at the Judges’ Study and went on for around one and a half hours.“The Chief Justice, High Court at Calcutta has been pleased to constitute a committee in each district for smooth compliance of the order of the Hon’ble Supreme Court with the following members: The Learned District Judge; The District Magistrate and The Superintendent of Police,” the HC notification read.“The Chief Justice of Calcutta High Court has constituted committee in order to look after the interim arrangement for shifting of matters of interim relief or urgent nature to alternative courts or matters incidental thereto…The Chief Justice, High Court at Calcutta has been pleased to constitute a Committee comprising Hon’ble Justice Tapabrata Chakraborty, Hon’ble Justice Arijit Banerjee, Nabanita Ray, Learned Registrar General, Mr. Raju Mukherjee, Learned Registrar (Judicial Service) and Mr. Ajay Kumar Das, Joint-Registrar-cum-Secretary to the Hon’ble Chief Justice, which will look after the interim arrangement for shifting of matters of interim relief or urgent nature to alternative courts or matters incidental thereto,” the notification added.According to HC sources, it has been decided that in every district, the District Judge or Sessions Judge will head a team that will check the logical discrepancies in the electoral rolls. They will also get a two-day training at the Judicial Academy, and their functioning will be in accordance with the Standard Operating Procedures (SOP).Story continues below this adSeparate virtual meetings were also held with the district judges, after which a notice was issued by the Registrar of Judicial Services said that all leaves, except under medical emergency, granted earlier to any judicial officer, stand cancelled till March 9, and those already on leave were directed to join their respective courts and offices by February 23.“To ensure compliance of the directions contained in the Order dated 20.02.2026 passed by the Hon’ble Supreme Court of India in Writ Petition(s)(Civil) No(s). 1089/2025 with W.P.(C) No. 126/2026, W.P.(C) No. 129/2026 (PIL-W), W.P.(C) No. 737/2025 (PIL-W), W.P.(C) No. 1074/2025 (PIL-W), W.P.(C) No. 1088/2025 (PIL-W), W.P.(C) No. 1216/2025 (PIL-W), W.P.(C) No. 159/2026 (PIL-W), W.P.(C) No. 119/2026 (PIL-W) and IAs connected therewith, the Hon’ble Chief Justice, High Court at Calcutta has been pleased to pass the following directions: All the Judicial Officers, posted as District & Sessions Judges/Chief Judges, Additional District & Sessions Judges, Judges of Special/CBI Courts, Commercial Courts, Special Court for trial of criminal cases against MPs and MLAs, Exclusive POCSO Courts, Judges posted in Benches of City Civil Court and City Sessions Court, Calcutta, as well as those posted on deputation are hereby refrained from taking any leave including leave of absence from station from today i.e., 21.02.2026 to 09.03.2026, or until further order except under extreme medical emergency,” the notice read.“All the Judicial Officers of the aforesaid rank, if are on leave (pre-approved or otherwise) are directed to join their respective Courts and Offices by 23.02.2026 (F/N), positively. All leaves (except under medical emergency) till 09.03.2026, even if approved by the Hon’ble Court, hereby stand cancelled. In addition to that the Judicial Officers posted in Fast Track Courts are also refrained from taking any kind of leave/Station Leave during the aforesaid period except under medical emergencies. All leaves (except under medical emergency) till 09.03.2026, even if approved by the Hon’ble Court in this respect, hereby stand cancelled,” the notice added.The High Court also mandated the judicial officers to refrain from taking any transit leave during this period.Story continues below this ad“All the Judicial Officers of the aforesaid rank, who are under Order of transfer and have accordingly delivered charge of their Court and Office in the meantime or shall be delivering charge on 21.02.2026 or shall be deemed to be released from present posting with effect from 23.02.2026 (F/N) in terms of Court’s notice No. 925-R(JS) dated 19.02.2026, are directed to join their respective new assignments by 24.02.2026, without availing Transit Leave. In partial revision of the order contained in notice No. 925-R(JS) dated 19.02.2026, the Judicial Officers who are under Order of transfer as District Judge and/or from the post of District Judge (at sl. No. 1 to 4 of the table therein), are directed to deliver charge of their Court and Office on 26.02.2026, instead of 27.02.2026, and take over charge of their new assignments on or before 27.02.2026 without availing any transit leave,” the notice read.The judicial officers’ training programmes, both in West Bengal or outside the state, have also been cancelled.“The training programmes in respect of the Judicial, if any, scheduled at West Bengal Judicial Academy between 23.02.2026 to 09.03.2026 are hereby deferred until further order. Any order of nomination and permission in favour of the Judicial Officers to attend training programme/seminar outside the State is hereby cancelled. Any dereliction towards compliance of the aforesaid directions shall be viewed seriously,” the notice read.Noting the “trust deficit” between the West Bengal government and the Election Commission of India (ECI), the Supreme Court on Friday issued an “extraordinary” direction for deployment of serving and former district judges for vetting claims and objections in the ongoing SIR exercise in the state.Story continues below this ad“In order to ensure fairness in the adjudication of the genuineness of the documents relied upon and the consequential determination for inclusion or exclusion in the voter list, and as agreed to by both sides, we are left with hardly any other option but to request the Chief Justice of Calcutta High Court to spare some serving judicial officers along with some former judicial officers of impeccable integrity in the rank of Additional District Judge or District Judge, who can then, in each district, be requested to revisit and dispose of the claims under the category of ‘logical discrepancy/unmapped category’,” the apex court had said.