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Supreme Court won’t restrain Gujarat from acting on report

J. Venkatesan

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Friday refused to restrain the Gujarat government from circulating, publishing and acting on the Nanavati Commission report on the Godhra train carnage.

(The commission, appointed by the State government, said the February 27, 2002 fire aboard coach S-6 of the Sabarmati Express at the Godhra station was a “pre-planned conspiracy by local Muslims.”)

A Bench, consisting of Chief Justice K.G. Balakrishnan and Justice P. Sathasivam, however, issued notice to the government on a special leave petition filed by Citizens for Justice and Peace against a Gujarat High Court order refusing to pass an interim order restraining it from placing the report in the Assembly.

Senior counsel Rajinder Sachar said there was no provision under law for a commission to submit an interim report particularly when there were several terms of reference. He said the High Court earlier restrained the tabling of the Justice Banerjee Committee report on the same issue in Parliament.

(The Banerjee Committee, appointed by Railway Minister Lalu Prasad, said the fire was “purely accidental.”)

Mr. Sachar argued that the Nanavati Commission had named the conspirators and if the government arrested them, communal harmony would be distrubed.

When Justice Balakrishnan asked counsel whether the commission had given any specific direction to the government or recommendations for implementation of the report, Mr. Sachar said “We have not gone through the report.”

Justice Balakrishnan said: “It would not be possible to pass an interim order without hearing the Gujarat government.” The Bench then posted the matter to October 13.

The petitioner said tabling one part of the Nanavati report and making it public was detrimental to the public interest. It questioned the commission’s action in withholding the report on the “dubious role” of the State government in supporting the accused involved in the carnage against the minority community, which followed the train fire.

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