NEW DELHI, Aug 4 - In a significant development, the Supreme Court has constituted a three-member committee with former Home Secretary GK Pillai as chairman to oversee the border fencing works on the Indo-Bangladesh border.
In an order issued by Justice Ranjan Gogoi and Justice Rohinton Fali Nariman, the apex court said, �...having considered the names suggested by the parties we constitute a committee to oversee the border fencing work on the Indo-Bangladesh border, including the riverine portion thereof...�
The other members of the committee are DK Pathak, former Director General, Border Security Force and Prof Abdul Mannan, a retired professor of Gauhati University. �We would expect the committee to be constituted by a formal notification to be issued by the Ministry of Home Affairs within seven days from today,� the court order said.
�We request the committee to commence its work immediately thereafter. The first report of the committee may be submitted to the court within three months from today,� it said, adding the terms and conditions of the appointment of the committee members will be settled by the Ministry of Home Affairs in consultation with the concerned persons.
The appointment of a new committee was necessitated after former Union Home Secretary Madhukar Gupta expressed his reluctance to continue as chairman of the committee to oversee fencing works along the Indo-Bangladesh border.
In the July 13 hearing, Solicitor General Ranjit Kumar informed the court that Gupta heading the committee constituted for strengthening border protection and addressing the vulnerability in fencing along the Indo-Pakistan border had cited personal reasons for his inability to be a part of the committee for border fencing along the Indo-Bangla border.
While making it clear that the person who would replace Gupta should not be associated with the government and should rather be a �public spirited� person, the court had asked the Solicitor General and others to suggest some names for the new committee within a week�s time.