Imphal: Justice Ajai Lamba, former Chief Justice of Gauhati High Court (Retd.) who is the Chairperson of Judicial Inquiry Commission (Manipur Commission) and Himangshu Sekhar Das (Retd.) IAS who is a Member of the said Commission have arrived Imphal Friday. Both the Chairman and Member were received in Imphal Airport by Vineet Joshi, Chief Secretary, Government of Manipur and Rajiv Singh, DGP, Manipur.Â
It may be mentioned that on 3rd May, 2023, large scale violence broke out in the State of Manipur and as a result of the violence, many residents of Manipur lost their lives and several others got seriously injured; their houses and properties were burnt down as a result of arson and many of them were rendered homeless.
The Government of Manipur recommended on 29th May, 2023 for the institution of Judicial Inquiry Commission to look into the causes and associated factors of the crisis and the unfortunate incidents that happened on 3rd May, 2023 and afterwards under the provisions of the Commissions of Inquiry Act, 1952.
On the recommendation of the Government of Manipur, the Central Government is of the opinion that it is necessary to appoint a Commission of Inquiry for the purpose of making an inquiry into a definite matter of public importance, namely, incidents of violence in Manipur.
The Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India vide Notification No.S.O. 2424(E) dated 04-06-2023 has appointed a Commission of Inquiry consisting of (1) Honourable Justice Ajai Lamba, former Chief Justice of Gauhati High Court Chairperson (2) Shri Himanshu Shekhar Das, IAS (Retd.): AM: 1982 Member and (3) Shri Aloka Prabhakar, IPS (Retd.): TL:1986 Member on the following terms of reference :
(i) The Commission shall make inquiry with respect to the following matters: a) the causes and spread of the violence and riots targeting members of different communities, which took place in the State of Manipur on 3rd May 2023, and thereafter; b) the sequence of events leading to, and all the facts relating to such violence; c) whether there were any lapses or dereliction of duty in this regard on the part of any of the responsible authorities/individuals; d) the adequacy of the administrative measures taken to prevent, and to deal with the said violence and riots: e) to consider such matters as may be found relevant in the course of inquiry. (ii) The inquiry by the Commission shall also be in regard to: a) complaints or allegations that may be made before the Commission by any individual, or association, in such form and accompanied by such affidavits, as may be specified by the Commission, and b) such instances relatable to Paragraph 2(i) (a) to (e) as may be brought to its notice by the Government of Manipur. 3. The Commission shall submit its report to the Central Government as soon as possible but not later than six months from the date of its first sitting. 4. The Commission may, if it deems fit, make interim reports to the Central Government before said date on any of the matters mentioned in paragraph 2. 5. The headquarters of the Commission shall be at Imphal. 6. The Central Government is of the opinion that, having regard to the nature of the Inquiry to be made by the Commission and other circumstances of the case, all the provisions of sub-section (2), sub-section (3), sub-section (4) and sub-section (5) of section 5 of the Commissions of Inquiry Act, 1952 ( 60 of 1952), should be made applicable to the Commission and the Central Government, in exercise of the powers conferred by sub-section (1) of the said section 5, hereby directs that all the provisions of the said sub-sections (2), (3), (4) and (5) of that section shall apply to the Commission.
