Centre146;s stand unreasonable

The Justice G T Nanavati and Justice K G Shah Commission on the post-Godhra riots rejected on Wednesday the Centre8217;s objections to submitting...

The Justice G T Nanavati and Justice K G Shah Commission on the post-Godhra riots rejected on Wednesday the Centre8217;s objections to submitting letters written to former prime minister Atal Behari Vajpayee by then president K R Narayanan on the deployment of forces during the 2002 communal carnage in Gujarat.

Calling the UPA government8217;s refusal an 8216;8216;unreasonable stand8217;8217;, the panel8217;s nine-page order said: 8220;We see no justifiable reason for non-production of those letters or their relevant portions as the Union Government has failed to point out how their production will adversely affect the security of the state or public interest or smooth administrative functioning of the government8230; It will now be open to the Commission to draw its own inferences with respect to the President8217;s letters written to Vajpayee.8217;8217;

In its recent reply, the UPA government had stated that the letters, if made public, would affect the country8217;s internal security.

The panel said Additional Solicitor General Mohan Parasaran8217;s reply on the letters was not convincing and added that claiming privilege under the Constitution was baseless and unjustified as the letters were not written by way of seeking information relating to administration.

The order said the panel was keen to have a copy of the letters as it wanted to know whether there was any negligence or reluctance on the part of the state government or the authorities responsible for maintaining law and order.

The order also stated that what Narayanan wrote to Vajpayee was with a view to control the communal riots.

8220;It was not advice, but was by way of finding faults with the central government and state government for not taking effective steps to curb the violence,8221; the order said.

May summon CBI officer over phone records

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AHMEDABAD: The Godhra Inquiry Commission on Wednesday indicated that CBI officer Rahul Sharma could be summoned for a second time, before the panel decides on ordering a probe into the compact discs relating to the 2002 Gujarat riots he submitted to the Justice U C Banerjee Committee. 8220;We first have to inquire into the motives that led Rahul Sharma who was the Bhavnagar DSP during the Gujarat riots to submit copies of the CDs to the Banerjee Committee,8221; Nanavati-Shah Commission chairman Justice retired G T Nanavati said. The judge said that the Banerjee Committee had 8220;nothing8221; to do with the CDs which contained the telephone numbers of calls made from mobile phones between February 27 and March 7, 2002 in Ahmedabad. 8212; PTI