The Supreme Court today dismissed a plea challenging the transfer of more than 1,000 administrative and police officers by the Election Commission in the election-bound West Bengal, flagging the lack of trust between the state government and the poll panel.

The apex court, however, kept open for adjudication in the future the contentious legal question about whether the Election Commission needed to consult the concerned state before effecting administrative changes in poll-bound states.

A bench of Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justices Joymalya Bagchi and Vipul M Pancholi said the apex court had to appoint judicial officers in the exercise of Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in West Bengal as there was trust deficit between the parties.

The top court passed the order while hearing a plea challenging a Calcutta High Court order dated 31st of March. The high court had dismissed a PIL challenging the transfer of officers by the poll panel in West Bengal.

In the Apex court, the petitioner submitted that the poll panel was acting contrary to the rules. However, the CJI remarked that such transfers were quite common and happened in many states during elections.

Elections to the 294-member West Bengal Assembly will be held in two phases — on 23rd and 29th of this month.