Kolkata: The state Cabinet on Tuesday approved the formation of a special committee to ensure more effective and strategic handling of legal matters across various government departments.
Headed by Chief Secretary Manoj Pant, the committee aims to adopt a more focused and professional approach in managing legal affairs and strengthening the government’s position in ongoing and future legal battles.
The committee will consist of six senior Cabinet ministers — Moloy Ghatak, Bratya Basu, Shashi Panja, Aroop Biswas, Firhad Hakim and Chandrima Bhattacharjee. Some of these ministers are also lawyers and their legal expertise is expected to enhance the committee’s effectiveness.
In the recent past, the state government’s tryst in legal matters has not been to its satisfaction and the state believes that strengthening the support channel for fighting legal battles is of utmost importance.
There have been instances when rules and regulations and certain administrative decisions of the state have been questioned by the judiciary.
Some judicial orders have gone against the interest of the state. In this backdrop, the state is in the process of overhauling the background for more effective and planned legal fight.
The committee will work in coordination with the different departments. It will be responsible for analysing the information associated with legal matters and take the assistance of legal experts as and when required and accordingly advise the departments on preparing a proper blueprint for legal battle.
According to Nabanna sources, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee in Tuesday’s Cabinet meeting expressed her displeasure over some of her Cabinet colleagues’ inactiveness in social media platforms.
She urged for using the social media channels for countering posts made by the Opposition. She had said that the BJP and the CPM have been very much active in social media platforms whereas apart from a section of ministers, many have hardly any activities on such platforms which is not desirable.