New Delhi: Everything can’t be “thrust upon the courts”, Delhi High Court said Wednesday as it wrapped up hearing on a PIL that raised concern over the possible disenfranchisement of the homeless because of the Election Commission’s house-to-house enumeration methodology in the SIR.“Don’t ask us to adjudicate these issues. It is for them to evolve a mechanism about how to have a more appropriate way to conduct this exercise. Everything should not be thrust upon the courts,” the bench observed.It said the PIL did not cite specific instances of a citizen being left out.“We will pass an order,” said a bench of Chief Justice DK Upadhyaya and Justice Tejas Karia on a petition by Indu Prakash Singh, who sought a direction from the court to the authorities to ensure the enrolment or retention of the names of homeless or displaced persons in the SIR process.The petition said Delhi has around 3 lakh homeless people. “The ongoing SIR… presupposes the ability of booth level officers (BLOs) to physically locate existing electors at their recorded addresses. Consequently, persons who are already homeless… are at the risk of being systematically excluded ,” the PIL said.The EC’s counsel assured the court that the poll body was aware of these concerns and stated a protocol was already in place.
