The Calcutta High Court on Tuesday said that the State government is at liberty to nominate a retired High Court judge to chair an enquiry commission to investigate alleged critical failures, mismanagement and negligence which culminated into the Chorebagan stampede on October 17 during Durga Puja festivities [Tapas Kumar Dey v. The State of West Bengal & Ors.].
A Bench of Chief Justice Ravindra Vithalrao Ghuge and Justice Shabbar Rashidi said that the State government had sought the Court's assistance through a letter from the Chief Secretary Manoj Agarwal to spare a serving judge of the Calcutta High Court to head the enquiry commission.
The Court said that sparing a serving judge to head the Commission is at the discretion of the Chief Justice and that if no judge is available, the State government could nominate a retired judge of the High Court.
"Whether to spare a serving judge of this Court so as to be appointed as chairperson of the inquiry commission, is for the Chief Justice to decide, on the administrative side. If the Chief Justice does not spare a serving judge to head the inquiry commission, it would be for the State government to act in terms of the provisions of the Commission of Inquiries Act, 1952 and constitute a commission for investigating into the unfortunate stampede dated 17.10.2026, by appointing a retired judge of this Court, strictly in accordance with the law applicable," the order said.
Pertinently, the Court made it clear that it will not monitor the probe.
"We make it clear that considering the provisions of the Commission of Inquiries Act, the High Court would not be monitoring the inquiry. It would be for the State government to deal with the report that the Commission would tender to the State government," the order stated.
The Court was hearing a public interest litigation (PIL) petition by one Tapas Kumar Dey seeking an enquiry into the stampede.
The tragedy at Chorbagan Sarbojonin Durga Puja Pandal had resulted in the death of 19 people, one of whom was a 7-year-old child.
The State government had earlier sent a letter to Chief Justice Ravindra Vithalrao Ghuge informing the judge of its plan to create a commission to look into the matter.
The letter contained several terms of reference for the inquiry into the stampede, including consideration of the contributing causes, understanding the sequence of events that led to it, examining relevant CCTV footage, calls records, police station and control room logs and whether adequate crowd and disaster management requirements were in place.
Senior Advocate Kalyan Bandopadhyay, appearing for the petitioner, said that the general strategy for the crowd at Durga Puja pandals is to create entryways through narrow lanes. He also added that a change of regime in the State had subsequently led to a reshuffling of members in Durga Puja Committees, resulting in inexperienced people being given responsibilities that they are not fit to handle.
He further emphasised that decorative structures, elevated platforms, lack of ventilation and low illumination in themed pandals like Chorebagan, supplemented by a lack of police and management personnel, caused the public to erupt into a mass hysteria resulting in the stampede.
The situation was worsened by a sudden spell of rain in the area, it was pointed out.
Additional Advocate General Billwadal Bhattacharyya, appearing for the State, said that since the government has requested the Chief Justice to spare a judge to look into the stampede, the petition need not be examined at length.
In light of the arguments, the present strength of serving judges also came up for consideration before the Bench.
"We are aware that the sanctioned strength of Judges of this High Court is 72 and presently, this Court is functioning with the strength of 50 Judges. One Hon’ble Judge of this Court Smt. Justice Shampa Dutt (Paul) would be demitting office on 27/10/2026. Another Judge of this Court Mr. Justice Apurba Sinha Ray would be demitting office on 25th November, 2026. This Court would be functioning with 48 Judges," the Court noted.
Hence, it did not pass any directions on sparing a sitting judge to head the inquiry. Instead, it said the State is at liberty to nominate a retired judge.
The Court nevertheless did not dispose of the petition but kept it pending so that parties can address the Court if the need arises.
Senior Advocate Kalyan Bandopadhyay with advocates Suman Sengupta, Anit Kr. Das, Ashish Dutta, Zoaib Rauf and Rahul Kr. Singh appeared for the petitioner.
Additional Advocate General Billwadal Bhattacharyya, Government Pleader DN Ray and advocates Anindya Basu, Pratip Mukherjee, Indradeep Pal and Bikash Kumar Sriwastav represented the State.
[Read Order]