The decision of the panel on GTA shall be binding and accepted by all

Justice (retd) Shyamal Sen, who headed the high-powered committee that recommended allotment of five mouzas of Dooars and Terai region into the Gorkhaland Territorial Administration (GTA), feels that the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM) should abide by the recommendations of the committee as during last year’s tripartite meeting, it was agreed between all the three — the Central government, West Bengal government and the GJM — that “the decision of the panel shall be binding and accepted by all”.

The GJM has expressed unhappiness over the Sen’s recommendation as the party had sought inclusion of 396 mouzas into the GTA.

In an exclusive interview with The Indian Express, Sen said the panel’s recommendation was “unbiased and based only on predetermined factors”. “After looking into all the aspects and weighing all the pros and cons, I came to a conclusion that only five mouzas could be brought under the GTA. Our judgment may not be palatable to all the parties but our decision is not biased,” he said.

“My allegiance is only to consciousness and Constitution of the country, law of the country and law of the land. I am bold enough to face any situation,” Sen added.

According to him, the five mouzas were selected keeping in mind all the conditions. “It might be that a particular mouza has got (Gorkha) population and contiguity, but it lacked homogeneity and that’s why we rejected such mouzas,’’ he said.

Every party can claim as many mouzas but factors like contiguity, compactness, homogeneity, ground level situation and accessibility should be looked into it, he added.

Sen said there was a need for development in the hills, and if GTA is formed after the election next month, there is a chance of all round development of the hills.

Terming his assignment of heading the panel as a “prestigious one”, Sen said when Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee personally told him to look into the issue, he could not turn down the request.

He said the delay in finalising the report happened and they had to seek an extension of six months because the office was not allotted to the panel till November last year.

“I used to work from my home. Once we were allotted the office, the committee started functioning in a full-fledged manner. My target was to finish my work within first week of June, and I am now free as I have completed my work,” he added.

According to him the GJM, CPM, Forward Bloc, Bangla Bhasa Raksha Committee and officials of the state government took part in the hearing and made submissions, but they were not part of the decision-making process.