Lakhimpur Kheri case: Supreme Court likely to pass order constituting judicial commission on Wednesday

The Supreme Court on Monday stated that it will take a day to figure out the name of the judge who would be supervising the probe into the Lakhimpur Kheri incident in which farmers protesting against Farm Laws in Uttar Pradesh were mowed down by a four wheeler belonging to Ashish Mishra, son of Union Minister of State Ajay Mishra Teni (In Re Violence in Lakhimpur Kheri Leading to Loss of Life)..Senior Advocate Harish Salve appearing for the Uttar Pradesh government, stated that the State has no objection to the top court appointing a judge for supervising the probe. .Justice Surya Kant made it clear that even the officers in the Special Task Force had to be updated by the state since most of the officers were from Lakhimpur Kheri only. "You can submit IPS cadre names but not the ones who hail from UP," said Justice Kant. .The Bench noted that it was thinking of appointing former retired Punjab and Haryana High Court judge, Rakesh Jain but it needs to talk to the judge to be appointed before passing an order. .UP government has now been asked to submit names for the task force officers by tomorrow evening so that it could be incorporated in the order to be passed on Wednesday..The Court was hearing a petition registered on the basis of letters seeking registration of an FIR in the matter as well as punishment to the guilty parties involved in the incident.Two lawyers from Uttar Pradesh had written a letter to CJI NV Ramana seeking a probe by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). In their letter, Advocates Shivkumar Tripathi and CS Panda also sought a direction to the Union Ministry of Home Affairs to ensure the registration of an FIR in the matter as well as punishment to the guilty parties involved in the incident.During the previous hearing of the case on November 8, the Supreme Court had said that it does not have confidence in the judicial commission constituted by Uttar Pradesh (UP) government to monitor the probe by the Special Investigation Team (SIT) into the incident. The UP government had constituted a one man commission of retired Allahabad High Court judge Justice Pradeep Kumar Srivastava to monitor the investigation.The Bench of Chief Justice of India (CJI) NV Ramana and Justices Surya Kant and Hima Kohli had said that the same needs to be done by a retired High Court judge from a different State.The UP government was then asked to make its submissions in this regard whereupon Salve informed the Court on Monday that it would be in agreement with such a move by the Court.Previously, the Court had expressed its displeasure with the manner in which the Uttar Pradesh government and police were handling the probe into the incident.On October 7, the Court sought a status report from the Uttar Pradesh government on the FIR registered and arrests made in connection with the incident.On October 26, the Court had asked the State to ensure protection to witnesses..[Read Order]