Ahmedabad: The Gujarat High Court on Thursday asked the state government to give reasons for giving nine-month extension to the Nanavati Commission probing the 2002 post-Godhra riots case.
The High Court query came on a PIL which said that the state government had disregarded the authority of the high court by unilaterally granting extension of nine months to the 2002 riot probe panel.
Last December, one Jignesh Goswami through advocate K G Pandit, had filed a PIL on the status of Nanavati Commission comprising of Justice G T Nanavati and Justice Akshay Mehta and sought to know as to when the Commission intended to file its final report.
However, even as the PIL was pending in the court, the Gujarat government extended the term of Nanavati Commission by nine months for the eighteenth time.
Hearing the PIL today, Division bench of acting Chief Justice Bhaskar Bhattacharya and JB Pardiwala asked the state government as to what has prompted it to give an extension of nine months to the Commission.
When the matter was sub-judice, the state should have informed the court before giving further extension to the Commission, the court observed and directed the government to place before it the terms of reference of the Commission.
PTI
