Narmada issue: Supreme Court to set up panel of ex-judges

The Supreme Court on Wednesday proposed to set up a committee of three of its former judges to look into the aspects of compensation and rehabilitation for the oustees of Sardar Sarovar Project (SSP) on river Narmada in three states of Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and Gujarat.

A bench headed by Chief Justice J S Khehar said that the committee will have Justices (retd) V S Sirpurkar, K S Radhakrishnan and C Nagappan as its members and asked Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi to ask for their consent.

The bench, also comprising justices N V Ramana and D Y Chandrachud, said the decision of the committee will not be disputed as the proposed names of these judges have been given and consented to by the parties.

At the outset of the hearing, Rohatgi told the bench that committee should comprise of former judges of the apex court and there should not be any bureaucrats or NGOs in it.