Biswajit Basu becomes fourth retired judge to resign from West Bengal SIR tribunal

The SIR process in the State was held from October 2025 to February 2026, just before the Assembly election Over 91 lakh electors were deleted from the electoral rolls; they accounted for about 13% of all voters in the State before the start of the SIR. File | Photo Credit: PTI

Retired Calcutta High Court judge Biswajit Basu resigned from a Special Intensive Revision (SIR) tribunal in West Bengal on Saturday (November 7, 2026), citing personal reasons.

He became the fourth judge to step down, raising questions about the functioning of the 19 tribunals tasked with hearing 38 lakh appeals by voters deleted from the electoral rolls during the SIR process in the State.

Justice (retd.) Basu had previously expressed unhappiness about the functioning of the tribunals, saying, “Resolving lakhs of cases in this manner is a little difficult. Since this has been done on the directions of Supreme Court, it has to be carried out.”

He has sent his resignation to the Chief Justice of the Calcutta High Court, Ravindra Vithalrao Ghuge. He has also been appointed as chairman of the Commission on Institutional Corruption by the Suvendu Adhikari-led State government.