West Bengal gets 24 hours for Nandigram report

The Calcutta High Court today observed that the CBI report on the March 14 Nandigram police firing, which claimed 14 lives, was inconclusive and directed the West Bengal government to file a status report on the incident by tomorrow.

The high court bench comprising Chief Justice S S Nijjar and Justice Pinaki Chandra Ghosh made the observation while hearing the much-deferred CBI report on Nandigram.

The CJ read out the last paragraph of CBI report in the courtroom where the central investigating agency said it was not possible for it to reach a definite conclusion on the cause of the police firing. The HC bench asked state Advocate General Balai Roy to place a report on Nandigram immediately before it. Pleading apology, Roy said the report was not ready and sought a day's time to file a complete status report. The case would come up for further hearing on Thursday.

"We would comply with the court order and submit a status report on Thursday, stating all the problems that the administration has been facing to enter the trouble-torn Nandigram," West Bengal home secretary Prasad Ranjan Roy said at the state secretariat, Writers' Buildings. The Calcutta High Court also heard the Tata Motors land acquisition case of Singur and directed the state government to file another report within the next two weeks. The HC also ordered the next hearing in the case on June 5.