Team News Riveting
Raipur, November 11
The Chhattisgarh government today added two members to the judiciary commission constituted to probe the Jhiram Ghati Maoist incident, after it had submitted the report last week.
The state government issued the notification appointing Justice Satish K Agnihotri and Justice G Minhajuddin (both retired) to the single-member judiciary commission headed by Justice Prashant Kumar Mishra. On September 23, 2021, the secretary of the commission sought the extension. Failing which, the tenure of the commission has ended on September 30, 2021. The inclusion of two members implies the extension of the commission that has already submitted the report.
Justice Mishra has taken over as the Chief Justice of Andhra Pradesh. The Secretary of the Commission Santosh Kumar Tiwari on Saturday submitted the Jhiram Ghati report to Chhattisgarh Governor Anusuiya Uikey that drew sharp criticism from Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel and ruling Congress party. Baghel said submitting the report to the Governor was violation of “established practice” while Congress termed it “incomplete” report.
Interestingly, the state government has appointed new members and included a few points for probe before examining or going through the report submitted by the commission. The Governor has received the report and will forward it, as per practice, to the state government that has to take a call on whether to accept or refuse the report.
According to legal experts, the extension has been surprising as the state government has not gone through the content of the report and did not know whether the points it wished to investigate has been covered or not in the findings of Justice Mishra. “Practically, the state government would have appointed the members if there were loopholes or errors in the report,” they added.
If the state government had wished, it could have included the points earlier and asked the Justice Prashant Kumar Mishra commission to submit an additional report.
Interestingly, the main judiciary probe of the tragic Jhiram incident has been conducted by a single member while the supplementary investigation will be carried out by two members, one staying in New Delhi and other in Bilaspur.
