New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Monday (April 6), thus far the last day for the registration of voters under the first phase of the West Bengal elections, declined to set a deadline for the state’s appellate tribunals to decide on appeals from those left out of the electoral rolls.In a separate development the top court also directed the National Investigation Agency (NIA) to take over the state police’s investigation into the gheraoing in Malda of judicial officers processing cases still ‘under adjudication’ following the controversial special intensive revision (SIR), even if scheduled offences under the NIA Act do not necessarily apply.West Bengal will go to polls in two phases on April 23 and 29 respectively. The last date for people to be added to the electoral rolls for each of these phases is April 6 and April 9.Appearing for the West Bengal government, senior advocate Shyam Divan argued per The Hindu that the 19 tribunals that have been set up should dispose of appeals by April 15 and that a supplementary list including the names of those whose appeals succeeded could be published on the 18th, five days before the first phase of polling on the 23rd.“Appeals are a continuation of the adjudication process, and no elector should be disenfranchised,” the newspaper quoted him as saying and arguing that freezing the electoral rolls for a swathe of voters on Monday itself would deny lakhs of people the right to vote and amount to ignoring the appellate process.However the bench comprising Chief Justice Surya Kant as well as Justices Joymalya Bagchi and Vipul Pancholi declined to hold the tribunals to such a timeline.“Each and every person would love to have his case decided at the earliest. Nineteen tribunals racing to finish by April 15 would only create chaos,” Justice Bagchi said according to The Hindu.As for how appeals should be adjudicated on, the court ordered the chief justice of the Calcutta high court to form a three-member panel comprising “former senior most chief justices or judges” that would set a uniform procedure for all 19 tribunals, Bar and Bench reported.Alongside, the bench noted that the judicial officers processing ‘under adjudication’ cases would decide on all of the just-over-60 lakh such instances by the end of the day. As of noon 59.15 lakh cases had been adjudicated on.Divan told the bench that of the 40 lakh or so ‘under adjudication’ cases that have both been processed and on which information was available, 55% of names were added to the voter rolls while the remainder – amounting to some 20 lakh names – were left out, reported Bar and Bench. “Almost seven lakh have already filed [appeals] and several lakh appeals are in process of being filed.”It is these people whose names were neither added during the SIR – after which the ‘final’ voter roll was published – nor amid the ‘under adjudication’ process during which supplementary lists have been made who stand to approach the tribunals.He also noted that the tribunals are not yet fully functional. The Hindu reported that the bench ordered they be made functional immediately.Meanwhile, the bench also ordered the NIA to take over the Bengal police’s probe into the gheraoing of and alleged violence against seven judicial officers who were processing ‘under adjudication’ cases in Malda last week.“There are serious allegations against the members of the state/local police. In exercise of powers under Article 142, we direct that the investigation of these FIR be taken over by [the] NIA, irrespective of the offences under which these FIRs have been registered,” LiveLaw quoted the bench as saying, referring to a constitutional provision that allows the Supreme Court to pass any order “as is necessary for doing complete justice in any cause or matter pending before it”.Earlier the court had rebuked the state administration for the Malda incident that took place amid protests against exclusions from the voter rolls.