Ahmedabad, March 7
In a severe indictment of the Justice U.C. Banerjee Committee on the Sabarmati train carnage, the Gujarat High Court today criticised it for “over-reaching the process of the court” by making the findings “public” and directed the authorities concerned not to “further publicise the report or to act upon it in any manner.”
Hearing a petition filed by one Nilkanth Bhatia, a relative of a survivor of the carnage, Mr Justice M.R. Shah of the high court directed all authorities concerned (including the Railway Ministry and the UPA government) “not to publicise the report further and not to act upon the report in any manner till the court concludes hearing the petition.”
“It is a matter of great regret that though the matter was subjudice and was kept for order on March 7, the Banerjee committee choose to make the report public wherein Justice Banerjee held a press conference, making the contents of the report public,” Mr Justice Shah said.
“This is in opinion of the court, is over-reaching the process of the court,” he added.
“If the committee wanted to file the report then it should have sought the court’s permission,” Mr Justice Shah said, adding, “Nobody is above the law.”
The petition was filed last year by Nilkanth Bhatia, a relative of a survivor of the Sabarmati Express carnage (in which 59 persons were killed on February 27, 2002), questioning the formation of the Justice U.C. Banerjee Committee.
The court said the Banerjee Committee, which went public with its report on March 4 was “expected to wait till March 7 when the high court was to pass an interim order.”
Mr Justice Shah observed that such acts of “over-reaching the process of the court” amounted to undermining the authority of the law and could result in the “collapse of the entire judicial system.”
The Judge said the petition questioned the very formation of the Banerjee Committee and if the court felt that the committee was not legally constituted then the committee findings (that the cause of fire on the Sabarmati Express was accidental) could be declared “nullified.”
The court also noted that the Justice Banerjee Committee was appointed two years after the train carnage and the Justice Nanavati-Shah Commission, constituted much earlier, was already hearing the matter.
The court also said the (Banerjee Committee) inquiry related to the cause of fire was in direct conflict with the terms of reference of the (Nanavati-Shah) Commission.
However, the court said another Bench of the Gujarat High Court would take up the matter on April 3 as the business of the court had changed. Mr Justice D.H. Vaghela is expected to take up the matter.
“If the business of the court had not changed, this court would have summoned the secretary of the Justice U.C. Banerjee Committee and officials of the Railway Department to explain why the report was published in such a manner,” the court said.
The Banerjee Committee constituted by the Railway Ministry to inquire into the technical aspects of the fire on the Sabarmati Express, including the cause of the fire, had earlier stated that the fire on S-6 coach was “accidental.”
— PTI
