Even after setting up a commission and appointing a judge to head it, governments do everything possible to impede its work. To begin with, no proper place is made available for holding the proceedings. Requisite staff and other infrastructure are denied or indefinitely delayed. Unless the presiding officer has the tenacity of an English pit-bull, and the epidermis of a pachyderm, no headway can be made for months on end.

Then, there starts the mindgame of conjuring up all manners of obstacles in its smooth functioning. Relevant documents are not produced by officers on vague and often frivolous pleas of state privilege, material witnesses are not produced. One is amazed at the manner in which the state, which solemnly set up the commission, finds ways and means to retard its work. To add to the difficulty, every conceivable political party utilises the opportunity to extract maximum political mileage. Busybodies suddenly wake up and rush forward to heap unsolicited advice, even if well meant, and burden the record of the commission with tonnes of material of least relevance. Most are represented by lawyers who leave no stone unturned to milk the occasion to garner fame and riches. Forensic pleas, mostly frivolous, are flung at the judge; cross-examination is conducted ad nauseam; adjournments are frequently sought on the convenience of counsel, illness of witnesses and myriad other excuses, old and new.

The unrealistic timeframe given by the government to complete the inquiry soon ends and many extensions are sought and given liberally by the government. Fading public memory helps in blotting out the very momentous reason for which the commission was set up. Finally, when the lionhearted do produce a report, it is placed on the floor of the House on the last day of the session with an Action Taken Report with insufficient copies printed and not distributed rendering impossible any meaningful debate on its contents. Time, talent and public funds are wasted in each such exercise. Cynics snigger, wags smile, and the debate about the futility of the exercise continues.

... contd.