New Delhi: The possibility of government tabling the Liberhan Commission report that went into the demolition of the Babri Masjid without adequate copies of the voluminous document is not ruled out.
An indication to this effect was made when Parliamentary Affairs Minister P K Bansal said such a course of action could be possible after consultation with Speaker Meira Kumar.
Bansal told reporters that theoretically, the report could be placed without availability of adequate copies, but in such a scenario, the government has to consult the Speaker.
Besides, he made it clear that a meeting of the Union Cabinet was necessary before tabling the report as the Action Taken Report has to get clearance of the Cabinet.
Home Minister P Chidambaram told the Rajya Sabha that translating the report in Hindi was a challenging task especially when "you are working in utmost secrecy with just one officer looking at it".
Deputy Leader of BJP in the Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj spoke in similar vein.
"Constitutionally both the Hindi and English versions of the report should be tabled. But if the government gives a time frame for tabling of the Hindi version, we will not mind tabling of the English version of the report," she said.
Replying to a question, Bansal said government would not skirt the issue of breach of privilege on the alleged leakage of the Liberhan Commission report if the opposition raised the matter.
"Let them bring the matter, we will not skirt the issue," he said when asked about opposition claims that the leakage was a breach of privilege of Parliament.
"We have nothing to do with the appearance of this report (on the Liberhan Commission report) in the newspapers," Bansal said.
He said Home Minister P Chidambaram has been "very emphatic" on the issue, maintaining that there has been only one copy of the report of the Commission with the Home Ministry which is under "lock and key".
Bansal also dismissed charges that the leakage was aimed at dividing the opposition unity witnessed over the issue of sugarcane pricing policy.
- PTI
First Published: Monday, November 23, 2009, 21:30