"I feel that government should accept the report and implement the recommendations in letter and spirit in larger interest of the State,"Justice Suresh said while reacting on the Action Taken Report tabled by Chief Minister Manohar Joshi in the State Legislative Assembly today.

Though legally it is not binding on the government to implement the report, atleast for the sake of its credibility, the alliance government should accept the recommendations. "If the government has courage, it should arrest Sena supremo Bal Thackeray for fomenting communal trouble in the metropolis," Justice Suresh said, adding, these days, it has become the normal attitude of the state governments to reject inconvenient recommendations.

"The Commission of Inquiry Act is widely used to buy time and shield guiltypersons. Therefore, it is essential that the Centre amends the legislation to provide for compulsory implementation of the recommendations," Justice Suresh added.

Replying to a question, Justice Suresh said he will not be surprised if some one moves the High Court for the acceptance and action on the Srikrishna Commission report. Justice Suresh was a member of the Indian Human Rights Tribunal, which probed into the communal riots. The Tribunal of which Justice S M Dawood was the other members, had made observations almost similar to those made by the Srikrishna Commission.

Former Justice C S Dharmadhikari said under the Commission of Inquiry Act it is not binding on the government to implement all the recommendations in toto. "The act is very clear and as such one cannot compel the government to implement the recommendations," Justice Dharmadhikari added.

Another former judge, on condition of anonymity said that it was highly improper for the alliance government to pass structures against a sittingjudge. "It was well within the powers of the government to accept the report or otherwise, but to condemn the recommendations made by him, is detrimental to the interest of the judiciary," the former judge added.

Advocate General C J Sawant spoke in a similar vein. "It can reject the report in toto or accept in part as per the decision of the Cabinet or the government," Sawant said. However, he said he was not aware of the contents of the Action Taken Report presented by Joshi.

Meanwhile, senior government officials expressed surprise over the manner in which the government has dealt with the findings of the Srikrishna Commission. "If the government was not keen to accept the report, atleast it should not have passed adverse remarks against the judiciary or the commission. It has harmed the credibility of the government," a senior official said.

A cursory glance at the commissions and committees appointed has revealed that politically convenient recommendations have been accepted, while inconvenientdirectives have been outrightly rejected, the official said.

Citing a specific case, the official said the report of the Justice Puranik Committee, which probed into the charges of corruption against two ministers Mahadev Shivankar and Shashikant Sutar was suitably accepted. "It accepted the exoneration of Shivankar and set up yet another committee to probe charges against corruption against Sutar," the official said.

Secondly, it also accepted the report of the Justice Pratap Committee, which probed into the charges of corruption against the then Food and Civil Supplies Minister Shobhatai Phadanvis, who was exonerated by the committee.