But that looks unlikely. The Indian Express has learnt that the commission, set up 14 years ago with the initial brief of submitting report by March 16, 1993, is getting yet another extension.

Sources at the commission said they were not aware of any commitment to complete work by year-end and that they should be receiving an extension letter from the minister any day.

Justice (Retd) Manmohan Singh Liberhan refused to say anything, but it is clear there will be no interim report or Part I either.

Speaking to The Indian Express, member-secretary to the commission, S K Pachauri, said that "no government since 1992 being interested in getting to the bottom of events or root of this landmark event that led to so much violence."

Others at the commission believe the main reason is the lack of infrastructural support to the sole judge writing the report. Sources at the commission also said there was a need to keep the report writing confidential, which means the hunt for new stenographers can be tricky.

Based in Chandigarh, Justice Liberhan does not even have a camp office there, and attempts to get adequate and credible secretarial support from the government in March last year also came to nothing.

The only office of the commission is situated in central Delhi, with personnel there having little to do with the actual compiling of the report.

Sources at the commission have also scotched speculation that former prime

minister Atal Behari Vajpayee is to be called for a hearing. People at the Commission maintain that all proceedings are closed, and there is no intention to call anyone now. The last witness deposed before the commission in June 2005.

With Uttar Pradesh goes to the polls in 2007, and the BJP has clearly stating its return to basics, including a promise of building a temple in Ayodhya, the Liberhan report becomes all the more important.