Nanavati Commission to submit post-Godhra riots report by March

The Nanavati Commission has indicated it may submit its final report with regard to the 2002 post-Godhra riots by the end of March 2012, the state government told the Gujarat high court on Thursday.

The submission was made by government pleader P K Jani before a division bench of acting Chief Justice Bhaskar Bhattacharya and Justice J B Pardiwala, while referring the letter written by the Commission to the government. The bench was hearing a public interest litigation seeking details on present status of the two-member panel and when it intended to submit its final conclusions about the large-scale communal violence in which over 1,000 people were killed.

Last week, the court had asked the Government to find out from the Commission if it had got an extension and when it would be submitting its findings. In response, the government on Thursday produced a letter written by the judicial body, which has said it was likely to submit the report by end of its extended term, that is March 31, 2012.

Jani also informed the court that on December 20 the term of the government-appointed panel, which was to end on December 31, was extended (for 17th time) till March 31.

After hearing the response from the Commission and government, the bench said they would wait till March 31, and if no report is submitted by then, the matter would be taken up in first week of April for appropriate orders.

The PIL, filed by one Jignesh Goswami through advocate K G Pandit, had said the Commission, set up in March 2002, had only submitted an interim report in September 2008. But it had not informed the government or the people of Gujarat when it intended to submit the final report.