New Delhi: The Supreme Court today
extended its stay on the Bombay High Court order directing the
Maharashtra government to place before it the report of a
committee which had probed the government`s response to terror
attacks in Mumbai in November last year.
The apex court, which had earlier disapproved of the
directions of the High Court, remained unmoved by the plea of
those who wanted the Pradhan Committee report to be made
public as it has already been published in a magazine.
When the matter came for hearing, advocate Lalit
Bhasin, appearing for Society of Indian Law Firm (SOILF), said
the stay on making the report public has no meaning when the
entire report has been published in a magazine.
"The entire report has been published in a magazine
and there is nothing confidential in the report," he told a
Bench comprising Chief Justice K G Balakrishnan.
He said the report has been kept secret by Maharashtra
government because of coming assembly polls.
However, his submission was opposed by senior advocate
Harish Salve, appearing for Maharashtra government, who said
if the report has been published in the magazine, the
curiosity of those concerned for making it public has been
satisfied.
He said the order on stay for making public the
report be allowed to continue.
Bureau Report
