KOLKATA: The involvement of nearly 500 judicial officers – judges of lower courts from across Bengal – in adjudicating doubtful cases marked in the voter list published in February has sharply slowed down the disposal of cases in the state’s courts.The overall “clearance rate” of cases in the lower courts of Bengal was 62% in 2025. This March, the monthly rate was just 42%. According to the “virtual justice clock” of the district judiciary, 90,685 cases were registered across the state in March, of which 38,527 were disposed of.Kolkata’s March settlement rate was even lower, at 39%. Of the 42,687 cases registered in the city’s lower courts, 16,717 were disposed of. At 19%, West Burdwan had the lowest rate.On 20th February a Supreme Court A bench led by CJI Surya Kant had decided to entrust judicial officers with an “extraordinary” responsibility – scanning the documents of around 60 lakh persons placed under adjudication during the special intensive revision (SIR) of the voter list and deciding whether their voting rights can be restored.The bench had directed “an interim arrangement to transfer cases of interim relief or urgent nature to alternate courts for a week or 10 days, within which the entire process is to be completed”.However, the decision has been pending for more than a month. Judicial officers will now face a deadline of April 6 and 9 for the two phases of assembly elections scheduled for April 23 and 29.Special public prosecutor Biwas Chatterjee said involvement of so many judicial officers in SIR duty was hampering hearing of rape, murder and POCSO cases as well as bail petitions. “One fast-track court judge has now been made in-charge of four to five other courts whose judges are on SIR duty. As a result, it has become difficult to get dates for cases. The pendency of cases is increasing because it is impossible to handle so much work,” he said.