OIL baghjan 
OIL baghjan 
GUWAHATI: The Supreme Court of India has decided to reconstitute the environmental damage and Compensation committee to assess the damage done to the environment due to a fire at Assam's Baghjan oil well on Monday.
A division bench comprising of Justice D.Y. Chandracud and Justice M.R. Shah to pass an order on Thursday recasting the committee.
"What we propose is, petitioners have suggested names of experts, we will defer this by few days, you check their names. We can add three members out of those suggested, delete OIL India, and say that OIL will be heard by the committee but we must have some Experts in the Committee for assessment of compensation and restitution of damage done to the environment," the bench observed.
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The existing Committee was challenged on the ground that the Managing Director of OIL India, who himself is a defaulter in the present case, is also a member of this committee.
The bench also said that they are going to ask the Government of India to appoint a Nodal Officer.
The court observation came after Advocate Siddharth Mitra's appeal to appoint experts instead of bureaucrats as they do not have the "expertise".
"We have given names of some experts with International experience, and some of them were already there in the Katakey Committee," said advocate Mitra.
On May 27 last year, a natural gas blowout occurred in Oil India Limited's Baghjan Oilfield in Tinsukia at Well No. 5, which caught fire on June 9 and resulted in several deaths including three OIL officials and large-scale local evacuations as well.
The blowout that occurred nearby Dibru-Saikhowa National Park had completely destroyed the Maguri Motapung Wetland and caused environmental damage to the national park as well.
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