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Govenment To Move SC On Nandigram

By siddharth22, Section News
Posted on Tue Nov 20, 2007 at 12:21:04 AM EST

The state government will appeal to the Supreme Court against the high court order on Nandigram simply because it has no other option.

Home department sources said a special leave petition will be filed in two days. Chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee said: "We are in discussions with lawyers." Home secretary Prasad Ranjan Ray echoed: "Legal consultations are on."

But sources said the decision to move SC was a certainty because accepting the HC order will set a precedent. "If we take the court order lying low, then it will have a farreaching impact on any situation that might warrant such police action," said an official.

"The government will challenge the HC dismissal of the executive inquiry (headed by divisional commissioner Balbir Ram) conducted soon after the March 14 police firing," another official pointed out.

"Dismissing the inquiry's findings and relying only on that of a central agency actually questions the powers bestowed on the administration by the Constitution. The inquiry, after all, was conducted as per Rule 157 of the Police Regulations of Bengal (PRB)," he added.

"The Police Act, 1861, is our guiding law because we do not have any administrative statute like the US. Therefore, we are abiding by the Constitution," said the official.

An executive inquiry is conducted every time a police firing is ordered to find out whether it was justified. This time, too, the probe tried to find out whether Rule 157 had been adhered to. "The inquiry has found out that each of these regulations had been obeyed before police opened fire during the unlawful assembly," said an official.

The regulations include warning the crowd about police's intention, firing at a specific target, ensuring that no greater hurt than that unavoidable is inflicted and firing ceases as soon as the objective is achieved and firing must take place in presence of a magistrate.

"Finally, not contesting the court order would tantamount to accepting that the government's functioning was unconstitutional and murder charges would have to be initiated against all those involved in the firing," an official argued.

There are apprehensions as well. SC might uphold the HC order on the grounds that the state had failed to maintain peace, amounting to an infringement of Article 226. "If that happens, the government will be in grave crisis," said an official.

Source:The Times Of India,20-11-07

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