Panaji, Oct 6 The Bombay High Court on Tuesday adjourned the hearing on a writ petition filed by a family in Goa against the deletion of their names from the electoral roll, as the Election Commission of India (ECI) contended that the Supreme Court was dealing with petitions challenging the Special Intensive Revision (SIR).
The orders the Supreme Court may pass can have a bearing on the matter before the HC, said advocate Gaurish Agni, representing the ECI.
Justices Valmiki Menezes and Amit Jamsandekar of the HC's Goa bench then postponed the hearing to next Tuesday.
Advocate Agni told reporters that the ECI placed before the High Court "some orders of the Hon'ble Supreme Court and orders passed by three or four other High Courts."
"The Supreme Court has issued directions in some SIR petitions pending before it that wherever there is a challenge to the SIR and deletion of names, if a petition is presented before a High Court, ideally the hearing should be deferred," he said.
Similar orders have also been passed by the Sikkim, Uttarakhand and Kerala High Courts, the lawyer said.
"Therefore, my argument before the court today was that since the Hon'ble Supreme Court is seized of the SIR issue, including the issue of deletion of voters from the draft roll, the orders that may be passed by the Supreme Court could have some bearing on this matter," he said.
The petition before the Goa bench of the High Court also involves the deletion of names from the draft roll and consequential rejection of Form 8, Advocate Agni added.
The HC judges were of the view that the Supreme Court's orders may not have a direct bearing on this matter, but the ECI requested that the hearing be adjourned for a week as the Supreme Court was likely to hear the petitions before it on October 8, he said.
In the case before the High Court, the SIR, guidelines or the forms have not been challenged, but "what is under challenge is the rejection of Form 8," the ECI lawyer said.
"Our argument is that Form 8 cannot be looked at in isolation," he said, adding that it happens when enumeration form is not collected.
The ECI's argument is that Form 8 has to be read along with the process that takes place prior to its submission, advocate Agni added.
The petitioners, Paresh Salgaonkar and his family, residing in St Cruz Assembly constituency, have filed the writ petition challenging the deletion of their names from the voter list during the SIR in Goa.
