The Supreme Court collegium has for the second time reiterated the names of two advocates -- Amitesh Banerjee and Sakya Sen -- for appointment as judges of the Calcutta high court "expeditiously", saying it was not open for the government to repeatedly send back the same proposal.
Alleged Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh activist Sunil Joshi wanted to kill Justice U C Banerjee who headed an inquiry commission on Godhra train burning case, and had even conducted reconnaissance of his house in Kolkata, according to a witness in the 2006 Malegaon blasts case.
Justice U C Banerjee, who had described the Godhra train carnage as "accidental", said he will stand by his inquiry commission report "200 per cent."
Justice (retd) G T Nanavati, who gave a clean chit to Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi in the Godhra train carnage, on Friday refused to be drawn into a controversy over comparisons of his report with that of the Banerjee Commission set up by the Railway Ministry.
The Supreme Court on Friday refused to stay the circulation of Justice G T Nanavati's report about the Godhra carnage in Gujarat.The NGO, Citizen for Justice and Peace, approached the apex court contending that a report by Justice U C Banerjee Committee on the same carnage has been stayed and a similar step should be taken for the Justice Nanavati Commission Report, which was tabled in the Gujarat assembly on Thursday.
The committee will be headed by retired Supreme Court judge Justice U C Banerjee, Finance Minister P Chidambaram told reporters in New Delhi after a Cabinet meeting.
"The avenues for challenging the Gujarat high court's order are still open, and we will go to the apex court in this regard."
The Banerjee Committee, which is conducting an inquiry into the Godhra train burning incident, was on Thursday given a three-month extension by the Union Cabinet.
The High Court has said the matter was sub-judice when it was made public.
Praveen Togadia has said that it metes out injustice.
The court has asked UPA not to table the report in Parliament till the court concludes hearing on a petition filed by a relative of a survivor. \n
The results of the report are too therefore politically motivated," Javadekar said. The BJP, he added, was instead waiting for a court verdict on the Godhra train fire.
Justice U C Banerjee had already submitted an interim report in January 2005 expressing the similar view.
Lalu laid the two-volume report immediately after he presented the railway budget for 2005-06.
The committee headed by Justice U C Banerjee, which probed the Sabarmati Express blaze, had said in the report the fire was 'accidental'.
This is the fifth extension for the panel.
Demanding that the Banerjee Committee report be placed on the table of the House, Mr Madhusoodhan Mistry (Congress) said, "Mr Modi should not be allowed to continue even for a single day as chief minister as he has failed to do his duty."
The team comprises fire and other technical experts and they will probe the exact cause of the fire inside the S-6 coach of Sabarmati Express on February 27, 2002.
Bharatiya Janata Party's prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi has been able to overcome a sustained campaign against him over the 2012 Gujarat riots, in which a section of the media had also targeted him, believes senior party leader Arun Jaitley.
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