Tehelka panel: Phukan waits amid termites, flies

The courtroom is being treated for termites which have ruined its woodwork. The evidence is stacked in sealed cupboards, and nobody in the T...

The courtroom is being treated for termites which have ruined its woodwork. The evidence is stacked in sealed cupboards, and nobody in the Tehelka Inquiry Commission has met the new chairperson.

At the end of his first week in office, retired Justice S.N. Phukan finds himself working in a vacuum in the Vigyan Bhavan annexe. Speaking to The Indian Express, Phukan said, 8216;8216;I have an open mind on the question of re-recording evidence. I don8217;t rule it out. I will soon schedule an open hearing and hear all parties.8217;8217;

Comparing the aborted work of the Venkataswami Commission with an on-going trial, say in a sessions court, Justice Phukan observed, 8216;8216;in case one judge on a panel in a trial quits and another joins, the remaining judges can either start recording evidence afresh or carry on from that point. Though mine is a fact-finding body, here too either course of action can be decided upon.8217;8217;

As of now, he is taking off for Chennai to pay a 8216;8216;courtesy call8217;8217; to Justice K. Venkataswami and will soon be choosing a panel of lawyers who will assist the Commission. 8216;8216;When Justice Venkataswami resigned, some evidence on the financial aspect of Tehelka remained to be recorded.8217;8217;

Meanwhile, the termite-infested courtroom is being renovated. And lawyers earlier associated with the Commission say, if Phukan decides to re-record evidence, it8217;s right. Says Sidharth Luthra, Tehelka8217;s lawyer, 8216;8216;The Commission of Inquiry Act provides the inquiry will not be stalled on account of change or vacancy of a member in a multi-member Commission. However, in so far as a single-member commission, such as the Tehelka Commission, is concerned, there is no provision to indicate that the inquiry can be continued from where it had stopped. In my view, Phukan may well have to begin the process of the inquiry afresh.8217;8217;

While Tehelka8217;s proprietors and lawyers have gone public saying they would not participate in Phukan8217;s inquiry, the chairperson says he has no formal intimation. 8216;8216;Nobody has approached me as yet. I will send notices to everybody, including Tehelka, and wait for their official response.8217;8217;

Ritu Sarin

Ritu Sarin is Executive Editor (News and Investigations) at The Indian Express group. Her areas of specialisation include internal security, money laundering and corruption. Sarin is one of India’s most renowned reporters and has a career in journalism of over four decades. She is a member of the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) since 1999 and since early 2023, a member of its Board of Directors. She has also been a founder member of the ICIJ Network Committee (INC). She has, to begin with, alone, and later led teams which have worked on ICIJ’s Offshore Leaks, Swiss Leaks, the Pulitzer Prize winning Panama Papers, Paradise Papers, Implant Files, Fincen Files, Pandora Papers, the Uber Files and Deforestation Inc. She has conducted investigative journalism workshops and addressed investigative journalism conferences with a specialisation on collaborative journalism in several countries. ... Read More