Committee constituted by CM to probe chaos in Messi show ‘structurally compromised’: Bengal LoP
On 13 December, the Leader of the Opposition in the West Bengal Assembly, Suvendu Adhikari, informed reporters that the judicial panel set up by Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee to investigate the ‘mismanagement’ behind the disruption at Salt Lake Stadium—where Lionel Messi was in attendance—was “structurally compromised.” He also sent a letter to the Governor demanding a completely independent court inquiry, thereby rejecting the committee that the Chief Minister had announced.
The panel that the CM proposed would be chaired by retired Justice Ashim Kumar Ray, with State Chief Secretary Manoj Pant and Additional Secretary Nandini Chakraborty as its other two members.
In his letter, the opposition leader wrote, “In an attempt to deflect public outrage, the Hon’ble Chief Minister has announced the constitution of an enquiry committee. With utmost respect, I submit that this committee is structurally compromised, legally infirm, and morally indefensible.” A copy of this correspondence was made public by LatestNewsX.
Adhikari pointed out that the chairperson is a former judge who also serves as the head of a statutory body that is directly under the state administration, while the other members are senior bureaucrats whose own decisions, omissions, and complicity are already being examined.
“The arrangement offends the most elementary principle of jurisprudence, nemo judex in causa sua—no one can be a judge in his own cause. An enquiry conducted by officials tied to the very government that is under investigation is not an enquiry in the eyes of the law; it is a predetermined exercise in exoneration. Such committees, Your Excellency, do not uncover truth; they manufacture convenience. They do not fix responsibility; they distribute amnesia. They do not uphold constitutional morality; they weaponise procedure to shield power,” the letter added.
Thus, Adhikari asked the Governor to exercise his constitutional authority to set up a truly independent inquiry led by a sitting Calcutta High Court judge and assisted by people of unquestionable integrity who have no institutional, administrative, or political ties to the state machinery.
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