NEW DELHI: A plea was mentioned in the Supreme Court on Tuesday seeking reconstitution of the five-member High-Powered Expert Committee (HPEC) headed by former top court judge Justice R Subhash Reddy to examine allegations of police excesses against student protesters in Delhi and violence against police personnel during the July 20 Cockroach Janata Party (CJP) protest march.
Senior advocate Gopal Sankaranarayanan mentioned the matter before a bench headed by CJI Surya Kant, seeking its listing next week on the ground that the petitioners had reservations about the composition of the committee.
Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the Delhi Police and the Centre, vehemently opposed the plea and termed it "very mischievous".
"The prayer is to reconstitute the committee constituted by Your Lordships and investigating some minister, so-and-so, and they have given names that this judge should be heading it, etc. But this is not a political platform. Something else is happening. Some people have a perennial problem with everything," Mehta said.
CJI Kant then remarked, "We don't appreciate mentioning of judges' names."
Sankaranarayanan said he was only seeking listing of the application and clarified that he would not mention any names.
"Even when the application is listed, I'm not going to mention names, as I didn't last time. None of us mentioned names. We gave it up and tried it. There's a way of doing these things. So we just request that the application be listed," he said.
Advocate Prashant Bhushan, appearing for some of the petitioners, supported the request and said it reflected a "common concern" among the petitioners.
The CJI said, "Whoever will work, will work under our supervision. We have not disposed of the matter. All of you are there to assist committee. Let them work and see."
The court indicated that the application would be listed in due course, likely early next month.
The Supreme Court had on 18 August constituted the five-member HPEC to examine allegations of police excesses against student protesters during the July 20 clashes in Delhi's Jantar Mantar area during the CJP-led protest march to the Parliament over the NEET examination paper leak.
The other members of the committee are former Punjab and Haryana High Court Chief Justice Ravi Shankar Jha, former Delhi High Court judge Justice Shalinder Kaur, former CBI director Rishi Kumar Shukla and retired Meghalaya DGP LR Bishnoi.
The court had said the committee was constituted after considering a "wide variety of considerations", including the expertise and experience of its members and the diversity of the panel.
"This HPEC (High-Powered Enquiry Committee) has been constituted bearing in mind a wide variety of considerations, including the individual expertise and experience of each of its members, as well as the diversity of the committee, among other factors.
"We are confident that the recommendations of the HPEC will be of invaluable assistance to this Court, and the committee will be able to undertake a comprehensive assessment of all such issues as merit due contemplation," the bench had said.
The HPEC has been tasked with examining 12 issues.
The court directed it to submit its first interim report at the earliest on allegations of excessive force and violence against protesters, including the alleged deployment of pellet guns, electric batons, lathis and tear gas without adequate warning or proportionality.
The committee will also examine allegations of severe bodily harm and injuries, including some alleged to be grievous and lasting, as well as targeted violence, harassment and molestation of women protesters.
It will examine allegations of violence against police personnel, damage to property, the use of metallic kinetic projectiles, the need for police personnel to wear proper uniforms and visible nameplates, the chain of command and surveillance.
The HPEC will also examine the proportionality of prohibitory orders and the invocation of Section 152 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, a provision similar to Section 124A of the Indian Penal Code, as an instrument to stifle dissent.
The court had further clarified that the constitution of the HPEC would not prevent the police from taking administrative or disciplinary action against officers if they were found to have contravened the rules.
The July 20 CJP-led march to Parliament over the NEET paper leak saw clashes between protesters and security personnel. Police used lathis and tear gas to disperse protesters attempting to move towards Parliament.
The student-led agitation began at Jantar Mantar on June 20 and spread to several cities. The protesters had demanded the resignation of Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan.
The agitation was called off on July 25 after Pradhan resigned and the government accepted the CJP's other demands.