Justice Gita Mittal panel considering students' pleas for transfer to NIT outside Manipur, SC told

NEW DELHI: A panel of three former women high court judges headed by Justice Gita Mittal is considering the pleas of several National Institute of Technology (NIT), Manipur students seeking transfer to institutes outside the ethnic violence-hit state, the Supreme Court was told on Tuesday. A bench comprising Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud and Justices JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra said the State was obliged to accommodate the students. Senior advocate Vibha Dutta Makhija, appearing for the panel, told the bench that Justice (retd) Mittal was coordinating with various authorities in connection with the transfer request of several students of NIT, Manipur.

“We are in the process of examining the genuinity of claims for transfer by the students,” the senior lawyer said, adding that in a few cases there may be some statutory requirements to be fulfilled. She urged the court that the plea may be listed after two weeks. The bench agreed to the request. “Justice Gita Mittal Committee has been in discussion with the authorities at the requisite level. We will list it on August 27,” the CJI said.

The bench also took note of the submission of another lawyer who said that an application has been filed for setting up a committee to oversee the education of displaced students. “Justice Gita Mittal Committee has been flooded (with requests of transfer),” the lawyer said, adding there were many similar requests by the students of the Manipur university. “Let Justice Mittal decide, she has seen the issues and has been able to handle them well,” the bench said, adding it will consider issuing directions if the existing panel finds the work “unmanageable”.

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Options for displaced students

On August 5, the top court extended by six months the tenure of the Justice Mittal committee which was set up to oversee relief and rehabilitation of the victims of ethnic violence in Manipur. The top court on August 9 directed the committee headed by Justice Mittal to look at the individual grievances raised by some displaced students from Manipur University who are seeking permanent transfer to other central universities. In November 2023, the bench had heard the plea of 284 students of Manipur University who had sought relocation in the wake of widespread violence.

The bench had provided them three options (a) attend classes at Manipur University online (b) attend classes at Assam University, Silchar or (c) attend North East Hill University, Shillong.” On August 7 last year, the bench had ordered the setting up of the committee of three former women high court judges to oversee relief and rehabilitation of the victims and compensation to them besides asking former Maharashtra police chief Dattatray Padsalgikar to monitor the probe in criminal cases.

The committee was authorised to submit its reports directly to the top court which is monitoring the cases related to ethnic conflict. The panel, headed by former Jammu and Kashmir High Court Chief Justice Mittal, includes Justices (retd) Shalini P Joshi, a former judge of the Bombay High Court, and Asha Menon, an ex-judge of the Delhi High Court. More than 200 people have been killed, several hundred injured and thousands displaced since ethnic violence first broke out in the state on May 3, 2023 when a 'Tribal Solidarity March' was organised in the hill districts to protest against the majority Meitei community's demand for Scheduled Tribe status.