Kolkata: Adjudicating nearly 60 lakh Special Intensive Revision (SIR) cases within a compressed timeline was a “herculean task” that Bengal’s judicial officers successfully completed, outgoing Chief Justice of Calcutta HC Sujoy Paul said during his farewell speech on Friday, describing the exercise as “a new and unknown terrain for the judiciary”.
Judicial Officers Praised for Dedication
Recalling his interactions with judicial officers overseeing the process, Justice Paul said: “Field Marshal Manekshaw used to say that if somebody says he has no fear of death, he is either lying or he is from the Gorkha Regiment. On a lighter note, I told them that when the Bengal judiciary completes this herculean task within a short time and, in future, if any other body says it can complete such a complicated task within a similar timeframe, the question will arise whether that body is lying or whether it is the Bengal judiciary.”
Retirement and Background
Justice Paul retired on June 20. He joined the Calcutta HC on July 18, 2025, became Acting Chief Justice in October 2025 and was appointed chief justice shortly thereafter.
Supreme Court Mandate
On February 20, the Supreme Court entrusted him with overseeing adjudication of nearly 60 lakh pending SIR cases, which had to be decided before the last date for filing nominations for the 2026 assembly elections.
Massive Mobilization
To handle the workload, judicial officers from Jharkhand and Odisha were brought in to assist their counterparts in Bengal. Leaves were cancelled and officers worked without holidays until the final list of adjudications was published. Recalling the initial phase of the exercise, Justice Paul said: “Considering the volume of work and the adverse circumstances in which it was to be undertaken, it was a burning question in everybody’s mind whether this exercise could at all be completed within the time expected by the highest court of the country.”
Encouragement from Personal Experience
He said he had encouraged officers by citing his own experience of serving as director of the National Judicial Academy in Bhopal while continuing his judicial duties in Jabalpur for over eight months.
“I told them that if, at the age of 60, I could undertake that exercise, the judicial officers of West Bengal, who are much younger than me, could certainly undertake this task in national interest,” he said.
“I am extremely happy that the challenge was accepted by our judicial officers and, with the help of officers from neighbouring states, they completed it with complete devotion and sacrifice,” he added.
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