Supreme Court peruses reports by committee formed to address humanitarian issues in Manipur

A three-judge Bench led by the Chief Justice of India Dr D.Y. Chandrachud directed the formulation of suggestions for issuing procedural directions to facilitate the work of the committee constituted earlier by the court to oversee the humanitarian measures in Manipur. 

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ON Monday, the Supreme Court examined reports of the three-member committee of former judges of high courts constituted to oversee humanitarian measures in violence-hit Manipur.

A three-judge Bench led by the Chief Justice of India (CJI) Dr D.Y. Chandrachud and also comprising Justices J.B. Pardiwala and Manoj Mishra heard the petitioners on the need for procedural directions that will facilitate the committee to perform its functions.

In order to oversee the humanitarian measures to be undertaken in the state, on August 7, the Bench had constituted a committee consisting of three former judges of high courts, headed by Gita Mittal, former chief justice of the Jammu and Kashmir High Court.

The committee has been given a broad-based mandate to oversee government actions— including relief, rehabilitation and compensation for those impacted by the violence.

Today, senior advocate Indira Jaising, appearing on behalf of Mahua Moitra, member of Lok Sabha from the Krishnanagar constituency in West Bengal, apprised the Bench of a meeting, called upon by the committee, of all the counsels appearing in the matter.

The meeting was held to discuss the developments in the matter since the last Order of the Supreme Court, on August 7, Jaising informed the court.

Jaising sought the court's direction to facilitate the funding of the committee's work by the Union government or the state government. 

Jaising contended that the committee should have the power to lay down its own procedures, be provided with administrative assistance, including a place of work, and a press officer allotted to it, to enable official communication of the committee's work.

Advocate Shobha Gupta, appearing for the organisation We The Women, expressed the need for the creation of an internet portal to facilitate the submission of complaints to the committee.

The court examined three reports of the committee.

The first report highlights the issue of loss of documentation during the months of violence in which entire villages and settlements have been burned down.

The CJI highlighted the need for the reconstruction of the documentation, especially in light of the fact that relief and compensatory benefits are linked to documents such as Aadhar Card.

The second report underlines the need to upgrade the victim compensation scheme of Manipur to bring it in conformity with the scheme propounded by the National Legal Services Authority (NLSA).

Manipur's scheme lags behind the NLSA scheme on several parameters. For example, as the CJI pointed out, the Manipur scheme provides that in order for a victim to be eligible for compensation under the scheme, they should not have received compensation under any other scheme.

The Bench noted that the committee had classified the issues under various verticals, as had been suggested by the petitioners during a previous hearing. These included: 1) compensation, 2) violence against women, 3) psychological assistance and mental healthcare, 4) medicare, 5) relief camps, and 6) data reporting and monitoring.

In the third report examined by the Bench, the committee has proposed appointment of domain experts to assist in its work under the various verticals.

The Bench observed the need to issue procedural directions to facilitate the work of the committee. The facilitation could be in the form of administrative assistance, funding to meet the expenses of the committee and publicity of the work done by the committee through a web portal.

The Bench directed senior advocate Vrinda Grover, appearing for the organisation Women in Governance, to collate suggestions for the procedural directions in consultation with the committee. 

The suggestions are to be shared with the Advocate General of Manipur by 10 a.m. on Thursday morning, the Bench added.

The Bench will consider the suggestions to formulate the procedural directions of the committee during its next hearing, posted on August 25.