New Delhi: The appellate tribunal judges hearing appeals linked to the special intensive revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in West Bengal will be able to use their digital signatures on the Election Commission’s portal, enabling them to clear pending appeals, Economic Times reported.The feature is expected to be made available in the next five days. Disposal of appeals were stalled as several tribunal judges objected to the EC requiring them to use their Aadhaar credentials to log in to the portal. The feature was added on September 21 after Seema Khanna, EC Director General (IT), made a presentation about portal updates to the judges.However, it had resulted in an impasse where no judge hearing the SIR-related adjudication cases in Bengal was able to upload a single order on the portal.Last week, the chief electoral officer’s (CEO) office had asked the judges to set up digital signature certificates through a private agency. According to The Indian Express, they will be able to create the signature using their PAN and government-issued identity cards, as per official records.The impasse also came amid a controversy over who filed 16.10 lakh appeals against West Bengal voters, which were cleared by judicial officers as the question went unanswered for weeks, even inside the Election Commission, until October 26.There were 19 appellate tribunals set up in West Bengal. These were created by the Supreme Court, which ordered them set up on March 10. However, two tribunals have been vacant following the resignation of the judges, amid a massive backlog of appeals. The remaining 17 tribunals have disposed of 1,26,194 cases, while 37,05,235 appeals are still pending, according to data as of September 17.Meanwhile, retired Calcutta high court judge Indrajit Chatterjee, whose notices unveiled EC’s bulk removal appeals, and was sitting as Appellate Tribunal No. 11 for 10 assembly constituencies in the district of Murshidabad, is reportedly back to work after having resigned from SIR tribunal.The retired judge had indicated that he would step down after November 2, citing the long commute between his residence and place of work, and poor road conditions in Joka, South Kolkata. According to ET, the EC is considering shifting the tribunals to locations closer to the city.For our full coverage on the SIR and the issues it has brought to citizens, click here.