SC dismisses petition in Nandigram carnage

New Delhi, Nov 19: The Supreme Court today dismissed a petition seeking directions to the Central government to intervene in November 14 Nandigram carnage in West Bengal.

A bench comprising Chief Justice K G Balakrishnan, Justices R V Raveendran and J M Panchal told the counsel for the petitioner, ''it is not within the power of this court to direct the governor of the state to send report to the Central government and then direct the Central government to intervene under article 356 of the constitution (imposition of President's rule in the state).'' This is the job of the government and not of the court, the apex court observed.

The petitioner, Kadernath Yadav, in his petition had contended that there has been large scale killing of the people by the goons of the ruling party in the state and it is a fit case for the intervention of this court as the constitution machinery in the state has completely broken down.

Counsel for the petitioner has also contended that Kolkata High Court had already declared that the killings in Nandigram were totally unconstitutional and ordered a CBI inquiry into the carnage. National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) had also intervened in the matter and sought report from the authority in the state.

At this, the court asked the petitioner, ''High Court has already eased the matter and NHRC has also intervened, how many fora should intervene into the matter?''.

The High Court has already directed the state government to pay a compensation of Rs 5 lakh each to those killed in Nandigram violence and Rs 2 lakh each to those seriously injured. Left government in the state has already declared that it will challenge the High Court order in the Supreme Court and CPM being criticised for useing goons to kill innocent farmers, who have been opposing the forcible acquisition of their land for setting up of SEZ by Tatas. UNI