New Delhi, March 11 -- The Supreme Court on Tuesday ordered the constitution of appellate tribunals comprising former chief justices and judges of high courts to hear appeals from voters excluded during the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in West Bengal, even as it expressed dissatisfaction with both the petitioners and the Election Commission of India (ECI) over the manner in which the exercise was unfolding. A bench of Chief Justice of India Surya Kant and justices R Mahadevan and Joymalya Bagchi permitted the chief justice of the Calcutta high court to nominate former chief justices and judges of high courts, preferably from the Calcutta HC, to serve on these appellate tribunals. Once the names are recommended, ECI will formally notify them as appellate bodies to hear challenges to decisions taken by judicial officers currently adjudicating claims and objections. The direction came after the court was informed that more than one millions claims and objections have already been decided by judicial officers deployed for the exercise. According to a communication from the Calcutta HC chief justice placed before the bench, around five million claims and objections are being examined in the exercise, with nearly 500 judicial officers from West Bengal working alongside around 200 judicial officers requisitioned from Jharkhand and Odisha. The court noted that the officers were working "day and night" to process the large volume of claims. However, the bench also directed ECI to immediately resolve logistical issues affecting the deployment of judicial officers. The communication from the Calcutta HC chief justice indicated that login IDs required for accessing the verification portal had not yet been generated for the 200 officers from neighbouring states.Taking note of this difficulty, the court directed ECI to provide full logistical and technical support to the chief justice of the Calcutta high court to ensure the smooth continuation of the exercise. The court's decision to create appellate tribunals follows concerns raised by petitioners, which included Trinamool Congress leaders and some West Bengal residents, about the absence of an independent forum for persons whose claims are rejected by judicial officers. The bench recalled its earlier order clarifying that decisions taken by judicial officers in the revision process cannot be appealed before any executive or administrative authority. Therefore, it said that appellate tribunals comprising former high court chief justices or judges should be constituted to hear such appeals. The chief justice of the Calcutta HC will decide the composition and number of benches required. The court also directed that the honorarium payable to the former judges serving on these tribunals be fixed by the Calcutta HC chief justice in consultation with ECI, which will bear the entire expense. During the hearing, the bench expressed strong displeasure over applications questioning the competence of judicial officers appointed by the Supreme Court to adjudicate the claims. "No one should dare question the judicial officers," remarked the bench while refusing to entertain an application seeking to withdraw additional cases assigned to them. It also declined to entertain two fresh writ petitions filed by people claiming that they had been wrongly excluded from the electoral rolls, directing them instead to pursue the appellate remedy that is being put in place....