Center appoints SC judge as new chairman of panel probing ethnic violence in Manipur

New Delhi: The Center on Thursday appointed former Supreme Court judge Balbir Singh Chauhan as the new chairman of the inquiry committee into the racial violence that broke out in Manipur in May 2023. This follows the resignation of Ajai Lamba, the current and former chief justice of the Gauhati High Court. Justice Lamba accepted his resignation on February 28 and Justice Chauhan will assume office on March 1. “The terms of reference and other conditions of the committee notified in the main notification dated June 4, 2023, as amended from time to time, shall remain unchanged,” the home ministry said in a gazette notification issued on Thursday. the committee, Ethnic violence led the Center to place Manipur under presidential rule for nearly a year. President’s rule was lifted last month and a popular government was installed in the state with Y Khemchand Singh as chief minister.