After the 26/11 terror strike,the Bombay High Court had constituted a committee in December 2008 following a string of public interest litigations filed by Indian Indian Society of Law Firms,Bombay Chamber of Commerce and others. However,the committee had stopped functioning after the Supreme Court stay. Now,it has been learnt that the excessive State Security Council has submitted six independent reports recently. According to the government sources,the reports have been forwarded to the Mumbai Police Commissioner who has to take actions based on its recommendations. According to sources,the committee headed by former Supreme Court judge B N Srikrishna (who also headed the commission on 1992-93 Mumbai riots) along with states Director General of Police,Chief Secretary,State Finance and Home Secretaries followed by eminent citizens and activists including advocates in the city had met once soon after it was constituted. However,after the government received a stay from the apex court in August,the committee thought it inappropriate to continue or make recommendations. As the matter went to SC,all PILs have gone into limbo because the government is not in a position to give us any information,a SILF source said. The committee cannot be blamed for that, the source added. Meanwhile,the government too had gone on overdrive and piled up a rather colossal committee of 66 members which raised eyebrows and prompted the court to call it a joke. However,the state reasoned that a large team would have a variety of thinkers to make recommendations from all walks of life. The court was skeptical and in March,asked if the committee had met even once. It even expressed dissatisfaction over the size of the SSC. Commenting that it would be a joke the court had said that such a huge council would be unmanageable and asked the government to cut down on the number of members. An affidavit filed by the Additional Chief Secretary in April had revealed that the council had met twice,but admitted that no recommendations were made. However,according to Additional Chief Secretary,Chandra Iyengar,the council has now submitted six independent reports with recommendations which have been forwarded to the Commissioner of police. The Commissioner will have to take a decision on it now, Iyengar said.
