Liberhan Commission - 16 years now, how many more to go?

(Times of India, 2 july 2008)

46 extensions later, still no sign of Liberhan's report
2 Jul 2008, 0310 hrs IST,TNN

NEW DELHI: Sixteen years after it was set up to probe the demolition of the Babri Masjid, the Justice M S Liberhan Commission on Tuesday received the 46th extension of its term.

As the prolonged proceedings for evidence and arguments ended in 2006, the recent extensions have been forced on the government purely because of the failure of the retired chief justice of the Andhra Pradesh high court to submit his report.

Though the latest extension of three months will end on September 30, there is no reason to believe that this could be the last. The 70-year-old Justice Liberhan has not so far disclosed any reason for such an inordinate delay in a politically sensitive matter.

The only clue that is available is the disclosure made last year to the media by the commission's counsel, Anupam Gupta, that he had fallen out with Justice Liberhan on account of the latter's alleged attempt to go soft on the role of BJP leader L K Advani.

Earlier in the year, an RTI query has revealed that the government had spent Rs 7.5 crore on what has turned out to the longest ever inquiry under the commissions of inquiry Act.

After maintaining a low profile till 2000, the Liberhan Commission suddenly gained prominence during the NDA reign as Anupam Gupta cross examined a succession of political leaders: P V Narasimha Rao, V P Singh, L K Advani, Murli Manohar Joshi, Uma Bharti, Kalyan Singh, K S Sudarshan and Vinay Katiyar.

The terms of reference of the commission appointed by the Narasimha Rao government on December 15, 1992 are to trace the sequence of events leading to the demolition of the Babri Masjid and ascertain the role played by the Kalyan Singh government and "individuals, concerned organisations and agencies" (which was a tacit reference to members of the Sangh Parivar).

Incidentally, the trial in the two criminal cases related to the demolition are also still pending. One case deals with the criminal conspiracy behind the demolition while the other deals with the leaders alleged to have addressed an unlawful assembly on the fateful day from a makeshift stage near the mosque.

At the time he was selected to head this vital inquiry, Justice Liberhan was a judge of the Punjab and Haryana high court. In the course of the inquiry, Liberhan became chief justice of the Madras high court in 1997 and the following year of the Andhra Pradesh high court, from where he retired in 2000. The commission's office located at Vigyan Bhawan has shrunk in recent years. Liberhan is apparently writing his much awaited report from his Chandigarh residence.